Phantom Leaf
by Inazuma.Star
Summary: Danny Phantom has been cast out of his home town by his own parents, who fail to realize he's their very own son. Knowing he couldn't stay any longer, he sets out for the rumored elemental countries, to see if he can make a life for himself in a place where having powers is not a foreign idea. (Danny will be much darker in this story. Warning: Blood) NaruxHina DannyxFem.Haku
1. Betrayal

I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto

* * *

Danny's eyes were glazed as he looked at his old home. His own parents had forced him out of town before erecting a permanent ghost shield around it. His chest was clenched in pain, though he knew they had no way of finding out who he really was. Soon they would notice their 'human' son's absence and begin searching in a frenzy. They would probably even accuse him of kidnapping his own alter ego. Danny let out a small laugh. Though the laugh was void of emotion. He swallowed his grief. He could mourn his loss later.

He looked around. He didn't know where else to go from here. Then his ghostly guardian came to mind. Surely the time user would be able to help him. He tried to think of anyone else who could possibly help him, but nobody came to mind.

Danny had made up his mind. He cast a sideways glance at his old home for the last time and took off towards the only person he could think of that had a ghost portal aside his parents. He knew that the man wouldn't simply allow Danny use his portal. He would need to use force, and show the man that he was no longer the helpless child he had once been.

* * *

It took him only half an hour to make it to the mansion. He glided down and landed silently on the pavement in front of the door. He turned himself invisible and walked quietly through the door and towards the study where he knew the entrance to Vlad's lab was. He opened the door to the lab and stepped through.

The cool air from the underground lab hit him almost the moment he stepped inside. He was careful not to let his heels click against the steel stairs as he made his way to the ghost portal. 'This is too easy... something is wrong...' He was about to press the button to open it when something pulled him back.

"Going somewhere, little badger?" a familiar voice spoke behind him. He knew immediately who had grabbed him. "Vlad..." he hissed under his breath. The older man was behind him, already in his ghost form.

Vlad sneered at him a little. "I'm waiting. I know you didn't come here for a tour." Danny didn't give an answer and bent his knees. "What are you-" Vlad didn't get to finish as Danny spun on his heel and dealt him a devastating blow to the stomach with his elbow, causing the older halfa to release him and back away while holding his stomach. "I... am not in the mood to play your little games today...," he stepped forward slowly, his hair shadowing his eyes, making him all the more intimidating

Vlad picked himself back up, holding his stomach still. "And what makes you so confident that you believe you can simply walk into my home and do whatever you wish? Do you think that slapping a funny expression on your face is enough to push me around, boy?" Though he didn't show it, deep down Vlad was put off by the way Danny was acting. Something was off about the boy.

Danny didn't answer him.

"Well? Cat got your tongue?"

Silence was all that greeted Vlad for a long moment, which was beginning to irritate the man.

"Fine. If that's how it's going to be... then I'll simply have to punish you for your insolence." he flew forward and went to punch Danny in the face.

Danny simply panned his head to the side to avoid the punch. His icy gaze met Vlad's, chilling the man to the bone. He then grabbed Vlad's arm and used the man's own momentum to strike him in the groin with an amplified knee strike.

Vlad let out a yelp as Danny moved out of the way and allowed him to hit the ground. Danny stepped over to his downed form and slammed his foot down on the man's chest, holding out his open hand towards his face. He was powering and ecto-blast up in his hand. Vlad's eyes widened.

"I call your bluff, boy. You wouldn't kill me! You don't have it in you!"

"...Am I bluffing?" Danny asked quietly.

Vlad slowly began to realize that the boy was serious. "Alright. I'll let you use the portal. Only this once though. Though know that... you've become just like me."

Danny growled and blasted him in the chest with the blast, though not quite enough to be fatal. "I'm nothing like you. I was simply showing you that I am not a force to be trifled with." he lifted his foot. "I realize now that I've been far too nice to my enemies. Maybe if I had been less forgiving, then I would not have been forced away from my home. Or at least the things that I've been accused of would be even remotely accurate. From this point forward, anyone who threatens me will find no such weakness. Goodbye... Vlad." he turned away and walked over to the portal. He pressed the button to activate it and stepped through without another word. The swirling green portal engulfed his form and then he was gone.

* * *

Danny wasted no time in getting to Clockwork's tower at the edge of the Ghost Zone. Now that he was no longer in shock from what happened, he could feel the pain of loss starting to hit him. He landed at the base of the tower and walked inside.

He walked up the stairs and looked around the room. The rhythmic ticking of clocks were somewhat calming. He didn't know where Clockwork was right now, and he didn't really care. He couldn't hold back his emotions any longer. He let his back hit the wall and slowly slid down it. He bent his knees inward and rested his head against them, using his arms to hide his face further.

This was how Clockwork found him nearly six hours later. He was still curled up in this position and was sobbing his heart out.

The old ghost frowned and floated over to him. "Daniel?" he kept his voice level so as not to spook the poor boy.

Danny slowly looked up at his guardian with tears streaming down the sides of his face. "Clockwork... I- I... I'm sorry. I didn't know where else to go..." he choked out.

Clockwork smiled weakly. "It's alright. You're always welcome here. Come with me. You should get some sleep. You've had a long day. We can discuss your future whereabouts tomorrow."

Danny swallowed and then nodded. He rubbed his arm over his face to dry his tears before standing and following his guardian. His feet felt heavy and it was as though the world as a whole was weighing his shoulders down.

Clockwork stopped at a door and opened it. Danny looked inside. It was a simple bedroom with basic furniture. Danny gave his guardian a small smile before walking inside. "Thank you..."

"You're welcome. Now get some rest." Clockwork shut the door and floated away. He already had a place in mind to send Danny. The people there were constantly at war... but he knew that his old friend, Hiruzen, could find a place for Danny. A place that could learn to accept Danny for who he was.

* * *

The next day, Danny awoke with a start. He sat up and looked around the room. 'Where am I? This isn't my bedroom...' Then the previous day hit him like a freight train. He looked down at his hands as he grasped the blankets tightly. Fresh tears were now hitting them gently. 'Why? Even though I always tried to do what I thought was best... I was still labeled a threat. My parents still wanted to rip me apart.' He hunched over and choked back another sob. 'Why did things have to be this way?! I never asked for this power! I never asked to be different!' Of course there was no one who could answer his questions.

Finally he managed to calm himself and step out of the room he'd been lent. He walked into the main room and saw Clockwork looking through one of his clocks.

"Ah. You're awake."

Danny rubbed the back of his head a bit, looking sideways at the ground. "Yea... I guess I am."

Clockwork turned to him. "I believe I've found a suitable place for you to live."

"Where is that?" Danny asked quietly.

"A place called the Elemental Countries."

"I've never heard of such a place... is it in another dimension?"

"Actually, no. It's out in the pacific ocean between the Americas and Eurasia. It's not on any map you've ever seen, because there's a barrier that conceals it from the rest of the world. Most people don't know about it."

"Why would I go there?" Danny asked.

"You see, this place is home to shinobi."

"Ninja? You mean a bunch of guys wearing black tights?"

"No, Daniel. Those type of ninja would be a considered an insult to real shinobi. Shinobi use a special source of energy called chakra. It's actually similar to our ghost powers. All humans have this power, but only the shinobi know how to use it. You have to learn how to use it at a young age, otherwise you would die. I would send there to become a ninja."

"But you just said I couldn't learn how to use chakra because I would die." Danny pointed out, confused.

"That's correct. In your current state. I am going to use my powers to turn you back into a child. That way you will have time to learn how to use chakra."

"I see... but... what if they speak another language?"

"They do. I can already tell you that. They speak Japanese." Clockwork informed him.

"I don't know how to speak Japanese though."

"No need to worry. Us ghosts can learn languages at an accelerated rate. Over the next few days after I de-age you, I am going be teaching you to not only speak Japanese, but also the basics to chakra and the history of the Elemental Countries." Clockwork smiled.

Danny gave him a real smile for the first time in a while. "I can live with that. But won't they notice my American accent? You said this place was hidden from the rest of the world, which would make my accent strange to them."

"You're right. It would. Not to worry though. I will explain this in a message to the leader of one of the villages and he will understand."

Danny didn't question him any further. "Lets get started."

Clockwork smiled at him. "This will take about three weeks. After that you should be prepared to go to the elemental countries." he then used his powers on Danny and turned him into an eight year old.

Danny gave a small squawk of surprise. He barely had time to move as a set of clothes and a slender bag were tossed at him. He looked at them in confusion.

"From this point on you're to be in your human form. You'll undergo my training and I'd better not hear any complaining from you. If you complain, you will sorely regret it. Now go get changed into those clothes and then come back here."

Danny nodded and turned back into his human form. He then ran off with the clothes to get changed.

When he came back, he was wearing a thin black jacket over a dark emerald shirt. The jacket had his symbol on the upper right corner, and on the back. The sleeves and collar of the jacket were white, much like his hazmat suite. Over his hands were white, finger-less gloves. He also had on a set of loose black pants which were tucked into a set of white combat boots.

"Open the bag, Daniel." Clockwork urged him.

Danny obliged and did so. What he found inside had his eyes widening in shock. Inside was a katana with a white handle that was wrapped in a long black ribbon. The ribbon streamed past the handle and was about a foot long. The hand guard had the symbol of a dragon engraved into it. The sheath was black and had a dragon printed on it as well. Danny unsheathed the sword and saw that the blade was pristine silver. He could feel power emanating from the blade. His own ghost energy was starting to combine with it and the edges of the blade began to glow green. He quickly sheathed it again and strapped it to his side.

"Oh my god. Thank you so much!" Danny could almost hug the time ghost. His grief was briefly forgotten in his excitement.

"Don't thank me yet. Wait until you've completed your training. We start first thing in the morning."

"Right!" Danny shouted with determination.

* * *

The next day, Danny was led into a large chamber deep beneath the tower. The chamber was designed to look like a large field with a few trees scattered here and there and a river flowing through the center which stopped in a semi-large pool of water.

"What will we be doing first?" he asked.

"First, you will be unlocking your chakra." Clockwork said calmly as he led Danny to a rock at the center of the pond. "What you're going to do is sit on that room and close your eyes. I want you to focus on bringing out your power. You're to block out all distraction until I say otherwise."

"How will I know when it's unlocked?"

"You'll know. Now get started." Clockwork stated.

"That's helpful." Danny grumbled and sat down on the rock.

Danny concentrated as best as he could for the better part of an hour. He couldn't feel any sort of power. He was beginning to think Clockwork had been pulling his leg.

Clockwork watched him silently from the shore. He silently wondered if Danny would be patient enough to pull this off. Normally his chakra would be easier to unlock, but since he'd gone his entire life without being around it, he was having to start from scratch.

Just as he was about to give up, Danny noticed as strange energy within his very core. He tugged on that feeling and let out a gasp as he felt it flood his very being. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Clockwork. He stood up and looked down at his hands with wide eyes. "All this time... I really had this power right here?"

"That's right. You just needed the right push to bring it out." Clockwork smiled. He then donned a more serious expression. "Now the real training begins." he tapped his staff on the ground.

Danny let out a shout of surprise as he suddenly felt as though he was being crushed. "W- what did you do?!"

"Think of this as weight training. I've simply put a seal on you that will acts as normal weights. The biggest differences are that it cannot be removed, and it will only increase as you get stronger. It will also suppress your chakra and make it harder for you to use it. It'll only get harder from this point on."

Danny's eyes were wide as he listened to Clockwork.

"N- now what are we going to be d- doing?" Danny stuttered with effort.

"Running." Clockwork grinned and gestured the large training room. "I want 600 laps within the next 3 hours. If you don't manage to finish in that time then you can forget about lunch."

"You're a sadist!"

"Silence! Now get going. Otherwise it'll be 1200!" Clockwork threatened.

Danny smartly shut his mouth. He strained his body and started running as he was told. The room hadn't seemed so big before, but now a single lap felt like he'd just flown around the globe three times. He took a large gulp of air. It didn't quite have the affect he'd wanted as it felt like the air itself was stinging his lungs.

* * *

Three hours passed and Danny had only just barely managed to finish his laps. He collapsed into the dirt in front of Clockwork. "Finally...," he gasped, "...finished."

Clockwork nodded. "Good. Now lets go eat." he prompted Danny to follow him, to which the boy obeyed, too tired to argue.

They went into the dining room and sat at the table. "While we're eating, I will be teaching you the proper etiquette for the Elemental Countries. They're not quite as lax as what you're used to."

Danny nodded and looked down at the steaming bowl of noodles in front of him. There was a set of chopsticks laying neatly on top of the bowl. He'd never used them before.

Clockwork began to instruct him on how he would eat in the Elemental Nations. Danny did his best to follow these instructions.

Afterwards he began teaching him some Japanese, and history of the nations before they finally went outside again.

Danny was dead on his feet.

"We're going to be practicing a bit of chakra control now." he pulled a leaf from one of the trees and gave it to Danny.

"A leaf?"

"I want you to place that leaf on your forehead and concentrate on making it stick for the remainder of the day. This is a chakra control technique that you'll be doing every day for the remainder of your training."

"I understand." Danny nodded and began focusing on the leaf. It wasn't quite as easy as he'd thought it would be as he had needed to place it back on his head manually over and over again.

* * *

Every day after that wasn't too much different. Though the hindrances on him only became more so as he improved. Every day his morning training was different, ranging from meditating to running to martial arts drills. Though it did it at such a pace that Danny was beginning to believe he wasn't improving at all.

They reached the final day and Danny was standing in front of Clockwork quietly.

"How do you feel, Daniel?" Clockwork asked.

"I don't feel any different than I did three weeks ago. Are you sure that these methods were really helping me? I know you said it would get harder, but none of it felt any different at any time." Danny frowned.

Clockwork gave him a smirk. "That's where you're wrong. I think it's time I removed your hindrances." He tapped his staff against the ground just like he had that first day. Danny was so surprised when the weight was lifted from him that he nearly fell over.

Danny's eyes were wide as he moved around. "I... feel so light." he threw a punch and was surprised at how much faster he was.

Clockwork nodded. "The hindrances were increasing with you in a way that you wouldn't notice them. But it's a big difference when they're removed all at once."

"You're not kidding." Danny said, stunned.

"Now. Here's something else I didn't tell you. When you get stronger in your human form, it's doubly so in your ghost form. That is why I only trained you as you are now. You've neglected your human half as you trained."

Danny looked down. He knew what was said was very true. He'd not deemed his human half necessary. He'd even payed for that in previous battles but only deemed his human half more useless with those losses. He then looked at Clockwork again. "I see. I understand now. I won't make that mistake again. From now on I'll train both halves with equal attention."

"Now don't go thinking that you can take on anybody as you are now. You're stronger, but you're still learning. Don't let it go to your head."

"I won't. I promise." Danny bowed his head a little.

"Now. It's time for you to go." Clockwork said.

"Already?"

Clockwork simply nodded. He led Danny to the room with clocks and opened the portal for him to leave.

"I can never thank you enough for everything you've done for me, Clockwork."

"You're welcome, Daniel. Here. Take these with you." Clockwork tossed a backpack to him.

"What's this?"

"You'll see." was all Clockwork said. Danny groaned. "Now then, when you get there, you will need to speak to the Hokage. He will get you what you need. I've already sent him a message to expect you."

Danny turned towards the portal and took a deep breath. 'Here goes nothing.' He then stepped forward into the portal, to wherever it would take him.

The next thing he would see would be the giant gates of Konoha about a mile ahead of him.


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto**

* * *

Danny got up and dusted himself off as he looked at the gates of Konoha. He started walking towards them, deciding that it would be best not to be caught in his ghost form for the time being. He noticed that the air in this place smelt much cleaner than the air where he lived had. As he neared the gate, he noticed there was a booth just past it. He thought that it must be a guard post. Deciding that they could likely take him to the Hokage, he walked over to it. The two guards looked surprised to see such a young boy traveling alone.

"I've come to seek residence in this village, may I speak with the Hokage?" he asked politely.

The two guards looked at each other for a moment before nodding and leading him towards a two story building at the base of the cliff that hung over the village.

Once inside they knocked on a door and waited to be called in. Danny could hear the voice of what sounded like a boy around his age arguing with the man. He looked up as he heard one of the civilians in the building mutter 'Naruto' with a hiss.

Finally he heard an old man tell them to come in. The older ninjas ushered him inside. Once past the door, Danny noticed a boy with bright blonde hair and eyes so blue they would put the ocean to shame. The most peculiar thing was the whisker marks on the boy's face. The boy was also wearing a bright orange jumpsuit, which seemed like it would be terrible for stealth purposes.

The old man, who Danny assumed to be the Hokage, was wearing white robes and a square shaped hat with the kanji for 'fire' on the front end. One of the ninja behind him spoke up. "Hokage-sama. This kid traveled through the gates alone and wishes to seek residence here."

The Hokage looked Danny up and down before nodding. "Have a seat." he gestured for the two ninja and Naruto to leave them, though he told Naruto to wait just outside. Danny noticed that Naruto was looking at him curiously before walking out of the room. "First of all, where are you from and where are your parents?"

Danny thought for a moment about what he would say. "I'm from a small town in the Americas. I came here alone after my parents kicked me out and threatened to rip me apart molecule by molecule if I came back." he finally told the old man, who looked horrified.

"Why would they do something like that?" the Hokage asked.

Danny looked down. "I would rather not say right now. But my guardian may have included it in the letter he sent to you."

The Hokage's eyes widened. "So you are the boy Clockwork sent. Yes. He told me what happened and what you are. Don't worry. That will all remain top secret unless you wish to share it."

Danny bowed politely. "Thank you, sir."

The Hokage nodded. He asked Danny a few more basic questions as he filled out a file. "Now would you like to join the ninja academy? Clockwork said you would, but I need your confirmation." he asked.

Danny nodded. "Yes I would, if that would be alright with you." The Hokage nodded and wrote a few more things in the file before closing it. "I'll need to see what you're capable of. Naruto! You can come back in now!" he called. The blonde came back in. "Now, Danny. Naruto is the same age as you but he's been in the academy for a few years now. If you can hold your own against him then you'll be placed in the same class as him." The Hokage told him. Danny nodded with a weak smile.

He got up out of his chair and kicked it back away from him before turning to face Naruto. Naruto was already in a defensive stance. Danny grinned and got into one as well. Not one for patience, Naruto leapt at him and went to punch him in the face. Danny grabbed his fist and used his momentum to pull him forward past him. He then brought his other hand down and punched the blonde in the back, sending him to the ground. The blonde got back up and growled a little. Danny ducked and weaved as Naruto kept flinging wild punches at him. He was starting to gain a smirk as he felt the exhilaration of a fight. He then reached out his hands and caught both of Naruto's fists. He now had them crossed over one another. He brought his knee up and slammed it into the blonde's stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He pushed back and made the boy fall on his butt.

It was at that moment that the Hokage stepped between them. "Very good, Daniel-san." he praised.

"Please just call me Danny." the young halfa rubbed the back of his neck a little.

The Hokage nodded. "You will join Naruto in the academy starting three days from now. Now onto living residence." he thought for a few moments.

Naruto jumped up. "He can stay with me, Jiji! I have another room in my apartment that nobody uses." the hyperactive blonde suggested.

"I wouldn't mind that." Danny smiled at him. His mood had already picked up since meeting him.

The Hokage smiled. "Alright then. Here's a second key to the apartment. Also, do see if you can do something about his ramen addiction" the Hokage gave the key to him after whispering the last part to him. Danny nodded in thanks before Naruto grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the building.

* * *

It didn't take long for Danny to notice the hostile glances the villagers gave Naruto. Every time one of them made eye contact he glared back and let a little KI out. They would almost immediately look away when he did.

They soon reached a dark green apartment building where Naruto led him to one of the apartments. Danny wrinkled his nose at how messy the room was. "Where's the spare bedroom, Naruto?" he asked.

Naruto pointed to a door in the far right corner of the room "It's over there. It may be a little dusty though." he warned. Danny just shrugged and stepped inside.

He looked around at the thick layer of dust that seemed to coat everything. Aside from that though the room was untouched. 'This is what he calls a little dust? I would hate to see his standard for a lot.' Deciding to get to work, he set his things down and began cleaning the room up. The rest of the apartment he would clean tomorrow. Naruto may be able to live in a dump, but he couldn't.

* * *

Naruto was quick to flee Danny's path over the rest of the weekend. The black haired boy was in a no bullshit mood as he cleaned up the apartment. Naruto had never seen it look so clean before. Once finished, Danny checked the cabinets to see what they had to eat, since Naruto had just given him instant ramen over the past few days. His eyebrow twitched as he saw the contents of the cabinet. "Naruto... Please tell me that there is more than instant ramen in your cabinets..." his voice was a little icy.

Naruto hesitantly shook his head. "I'm sorry Danny. All the other stores except the ramen place kick me out and cost me extra for all their products. I can't afford anything else."

Danny's gaze softened a little. "Why would they do that? Did you blow up a shop with paint or something?"

Naruto shook his head. "No. Nothing like that. Or at least I didn't used to. They've been doing that since I became old enough to get my own food. Now I blow up their shops in retaliation."

Danny sighed. "I see. Well. I'll need to put a stop to that."

"What? Really?"

"Lets go. Right now. We're going to get some actual food in the house. You're going to show me where the food markets are." He grabbed the blonde by the collar of his jacket and dragged him outside.

Naruto reluctantly told him where the market was. Danny pulled out the money he'd gotten from Clockwork and began filling the bags he had to the brim with food.

They got to the counter and the cashier scowled at them. "What are you doing here Naruto?!" she began to double their price.

"Ma'am..." Danny started with a cold tone. "What kind of person picks on an eight year old orphan, let alone two of them. You're one sick person and I have half a mind to report you to the Hokage. You'll give us the normal price or you won't have a shop left to sell at." Danny threatened.

The woman's eyes widened. In a panic she quickly fixed the prices for them. Naruto was looking at him as though he were some sort of saint.

He paid for everything and started walking back. He had given several of the bags to Naruto. "You didn't get any ramen!" the blonde complained.

"Why would I get more of that stuff when I can make real food? If you can get me a recipe and the ingredients I may even be able to cook you some real ramen." he suggested.

Naruto's eyes widened. "Really?!" he suddenly shouted.

Danny cringed. "Yes, really. If you keep shouting, though, I'll take my offer back." he grinned teasingly. Naruto quickly shut his mouth for the remainder of the walk back.

* * *

Once they got back and had put everything away, Danny started making spaghetti for dinner. As he was cooking, he noticed that Naruto was watching him curiously.

"What is that? It looks a lot like ramen?" he asked.

Danny chuckled. "This is called spaghetti. It has noodles, a lot like ramen does, but instead of broth it has tomato sauce and meat in it. It can have different meat like meatballs, hamburger meat, or chicken in it. This kind will have chicken." he explained.

"I'll try it! If it's anything like ramen it must be good!" the blonde chirped.

Danny smiled and put some in a bowl for Naruto before getting some for himself. He then sat at the table with him.

He glanced up at Naruto who was taking a tentative taste of the spaghetti. He had to hold his ears as Naruto suddenly yelled "This is really good!" Danny held in a laugh and finished eating his own food.

"There's more in the pot if you're still hungry," he suggested after watching Naruto inhale the food. He watched the blonde scramble up and eat what was left in the pot.

They finished eating and merely sat at the table with drinks.

"Will you tell me more about yourself?" Naruto asked.

"Alright." Danny nodded. "Where would you like me to start?"

"Where are you from?" Naruto asked.

"I'm from a small town in the Americas called Amity Park."

"What are the Americas?"

"That's one of the three continents in the world. There's also a second one called Eurasia." Danny explained.

"Which continent are we on now?"

Danny thought. "This continent is only known as the Elemental Countries. But the rest of the world doesn't know about it."

"Why is that?"

"Because there's a barrier around this continent. Unless you have special means, you can't get in and out of that barrier. You can't see through it either."

"You had those means?"

"Well. No. But my guardian does. He helped me out and sent me here."

"What is your country like?"

Danny thought about that again. "That's hard to answer. I can tell you that we don't really have shinobi though. We have soldiers, but they don't have chakra. They use guns and other machines to fight."

"A gun? I've never heard of that before."

"Probably a good thing. From what I understand these countries have been warring for a long time. Imagine what would happen if they had in their possession something that could decimate an entire country in one blow." He was talking about the nuclear weapons that were utilized by his own people.

"There's something that could do that?!" Naruto shouted.

Danny held his ears in pain. "Yes. Though I won't go into the full extent of what it can do or what it's called. The last thing we need is people having that technology here."

"I understand, Danny. Well. Why did you come here? Why didn't your parents come with you?" Naruto asked.

Danny looked at the table. "My parents tried to kill me. So I fled. And then they erected a barrier that keeps me from going back. What about you? You're all alone too."

Naruto looked down as well. "I never knew my parents."

"I'm sorry."

"What's it like?"

"What?"

"To have a family..."

Danny frowned. "I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask that. My family was... very odd... to say the least. It was a constant struggle to keep my head. They made various weapons that would often go wrong. Myself and my sister would have to get out of the way before we were blown up along with them. Any time they cooked, they ended up bringing the food to life. Everything with them was ghosts. They knew nothing other than that obsession. Though... I did love them. I would have given my life to keep my family safe without question. That was thrown back in my face."

Naruto immediately wished he hadn't asked.

Danny sighed. "Let's go to bed."

"Alright, Danny."

* * *

After cleaning up the dishes, Danny headed to his room. He wasn't really feeling tired, so he ended up just laying there and staring up at the ceiling. 'Was this the right decision? I guess I won't know the answer to that question for a while yet.' he turned over and closed his eyes in an attempt to get some sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto**

* * *

Danny had finally passed out some time around four in the morning. Only for Naruto to come banging on his door two hours later. He let out a groan and fell unceremoniously out of the bed. "Oww..." he ran a hand though his unkempt hair and sat up.

Naruto banged on the door again. "I'm up! I'm up!" Danny snapped and started getting dressed. He stepped outside once he was done and glared at his roommate.

"We have to leave in twenty minutes." Naruto said.

Danny sighed and walked to the kitchen. He got the eggs and bacon out of the fridge and started cooking breakfast.

Naruto waited patiently at the table for it to be ready. Danny set a plate of food in front of him once it was. He began scarfing it down while the black haired boy ate his own food. They finished eating quickly and then rushed out the door. Danny remembered to lock it behind them before chasing after the blonde. They made it to the academy in only a few short minutes.

They stepped inside and Danny looked at the rows of seats. He was about to follow Naruto when a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He looked up to see the teacher smiling down at him. The teacher had his brown hair up in a ponytail over his forehead protector and a thin scar running across the bridge of his nose. He wore a green flack jacket over a long sleeved blue shirt and blue pants that were tucked into his sandals. "Hello. I'm your instructor, Iruka Umino. You must be Daniel Fenton." he greeted politely.

Danny nodded. "Please call me Danny." he shook hands with the instructor.

Iruka turned towards the class. "Okay, quiet everyone. I'd like you all to meet Danny Fenton. He's from the Americas and he'll be joining us from now on." he introduced them.

The other kids all looked him up and down curiously. "Now remember that today is sparring practice. So we'll get to see what Danny here can do, and how much you all remember from last week." Iruka told them.

The instructor lead the class outside. The first volunteers were a boy name Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke was wearing a high collar black shirt and gray shorts. His black hair almost looked like a duck's rear end. Danny smiled encouragingly at his roommate as he did the signature salute to start the spar. Though he nearly face-palmed when he saw Naruto charge Sasuke the same way he'd charged Danny a few days before. 'I'm going to have to teach this kid some proper fighting techniques.' He thought to himself quietly as he watched Sasuke easily dodge all of the attacks before pinning Naruto down and going to punch him in the face. Sasuke stopped with his fist hovering in the air above a shocked blonde.

Iruka told them to get up and was about to call for the next volunteers when Danny spoke up. "I challenge you, Sasuke." he waited for the boy to look over at him.

Sasuke looked him up and down and seemed to already think he had won the battle before it began. Danny didn't let anything show on his face as he stepped into the sparring ring. He copied the salute had seen them do before and dropped into a defensive stance. He saw Sasuke looking for an opening to attack.

Deciding to move things along, he threw the first punch. Sasuke ducked and went to grab his arm. However, Danny suddenly twisted and hit Sasuke in the side with a powerful kick. Sasuke yelped as he was thrown back a ways into the dirt. The other students gasped in shock. Nobody had ever landed a hit on Sasuke before. Sasuke got back up and moved to punch Danny in the stomach. Danny moved quickly and swept a foot across Sasuke's legs, knocking him off balance. However, instead of letting the kid fall, he grabbed his arm and pulled him back into what would have been a nasty punch to the jaw. But he paused with his fist just in front of his face. "I win." Danny grinned at the boy, who was now seething.

"That was just luck! There's no way you could have defeated me! I want a rematch!" Sasuke shouted.

Danny looked at Iruka for permission. The instructor sighed and nodded.

The two boys broke apart and started again.

This time Sasuke was the one to charge, swinging what would have been powerful hits at Danny. Danny dodged all of the hits and let out a taunting yawn. "Is this all you've got? I might just take a nap."

Sasuke growled as he continued to let his anger get to him. He jumped up to swing another kick at Danny's head. Danny smirked and grabbed his leg. Sasuke's eyes widened and he struggled to get loose. Danny's grip tightened as he threw Sasuke down to the ground roughly. Sasuke hit the dirt and tumbled across it.

"I win again." Danny declared with a grin. "Is that really just luck?"

Sasuke snarled at him angrily. "How did you do that?! You will teach me how!"

"Nah. I don't think I will." Danny said lazily.

The boys were cheering for him, and the girls were calling him an assortment of names for humiliating Sasuke. Danny just shook his head and stood beside Naruto. The blonde seemed to be jealous of him.

Danny nudged the boy gently. "If you want, I wouldn't mind showing you how I fight like that." Danny suggested to him.

Naruto's expression brightened. "Really!?"

Danny put his hands over his ears as the blonde yelled again. He nodded weakly. "Yes, really. Now would you PLEASE stop yelling." he pleaded.

"Sorry." Naruto muttered.

* * *

The rest of the day went rather well. Danny had passed the throwing tests with flying colors, and he proved to have amazing knowledge of chakra considering it was his 'first' day using it. By the time it was all said and done, Naruto was feeling even more jealous of the boy. They got back to the apartment.

"How did you do all of that? Wasn't that your first time using chakra?"

Danny shook his head. "No. My guardian trained me a little before I came here."

"You said you would teach me right?"

"That's right. I'll help you get up to par with me. After that though I would like to be rivals." Danny grinned.

Naruto beamed. "I'd like that too! So how will we start?"

"Well. My guardian said that the next step to chakra control is tree climbing. Since you've already been using chakra for a while we can do this together. Do you know of a place where we can do that undisturbed? Or just a place where we can train without being disturbed?" Danny asked.

Naruto thought for a moment before he nodded. "Yes. I know of a place. It's an abandoned training ground. Nobody goes there or keeps up with it anymore." he finally said.

"Then that's where we'll go. Just let me get my things real quick." Danny went into his room and grabbed his backpack and his katana before coming back and having Naruto lead the way to the training ground. Danny looked around at the place. "Not bad. It'll need some cleaning up, but I think we can work with this. Why does nobody use it?" he asked.

Naruto shivered a little. "Everyone says that this training ground is haunted by a genin who died here a long time ago. They were killed by one of their team mates, and now they chase new teams out who try to train here." he finally explained.

Danny tilted his head. "So there's a ghost here? Well. It wouldn't be the first vengeful ghost I've ever met." he assured Naruto.

"You mean ghosts really are real?" he asked with wide, frightened eyes.

"Yes. Ghosts are real. Not all ghosts are bad though. Like there was one in my home town who used to fight all the other ghosts who would attack it. Unfortunately for him, not many people saw that he was trying to help, and so they targeted him like they did all the others. I was forced out of my town while helping him in one of those fights." Danny said sadly, leaving out certain details to keep his alter ego a secret.

"Where is the ghost now?" Naruto tilted his head.

"He most likely followed me. If you see him, his name is Phantom. He has white hair and green eyes. And he wears a black spandex suit with white gloves and boots. He should also have this logo on his chest." Danny gestured to the DP logo on his jacket.

Naruto seemed to be a little pale now, so Danny distracted him. "Lets get to cleaning this place up. We can think of it as training." he suggested.

Naruto agreed and they began clearing out all the weeds and fallen trees. They moved all the stuff they cleared out to a sandy area and set it on fire to get rid of it. It took them almost the entire day to finish.

"We can start our real training tomorrow." Danny promised. Naruto nodded tiredly. He looked like he was dead on his feet. Danny collected all of their things before leading him back to their apartment. They both passed out almost the second they touched their beds.


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto**

* * *

The next day at the academy was pretty uneventful. However, Naruto had been jumping up and down in anticipation for his first real training session with Danny. Danny watched him with an amused expression as he practically flew to the door when the bell rang. Today he had brought a rather large duffel bag with him, but he wouldn't tell Naruto what it was for. This only proved to make the blonde even more excited and curious.

Danny stepped out of the classroom and started walking calmly to the training ground. He saw that Naruto had gotten there long before he had and was now waiting impatiently for him to get there. "Naruto, you know if you keep this up you won't have any energy to actually train." he chuckled.

Naruto huffed at him. "I'm not tired! Lets get started!" Naruto shouted.

"Alright then." Danny dropped the duffel bag on the ground, causing it to crack a little. Naruto's eyes widened when he saw that. "I got some training tips and equipment from someone named Might Guy. You're going to hate me for this, but it'll pay off." He proceeded to pull out some weighted training clothes. He ordered Naruto to lose the jumpsuit and put them on. The poor blonde almost immediately collapsed to his knees as he put all the weight on.

"Y- you've been lugging all this around all day? How?!" the blonde asked incredulously.

"Training. My own teacher did the same thing to me but worse. That's all you need to know. For the next several months, I expect you to wear these. You're not allowed to take them off at any time unless you're bathing. After that time is up, I will give you even heavier weights over time. You can put your jumpsuit over it if you want, but I wouldn't recommend doing that unless you want to die of a heat stroke." Danny explained with a sadistic smirk.

Naruto paled considerably. "Why aren't you wearing any weights but I am? That's not fair!" Naruto protested.

Danny just grinned at him. "I'm already wearing the same weights as you. I've been wearing them all day." Naruto gawked at him. "In any case. It's you that needs the most work right now. I'm going to work you till you drop and further. I hope you're prepared for the worst five years of your life." He knew that Naruto was nowhere near the level he'd been even before he started training. He could've beaten him back when he was a mere human. He was going to need to fix that.

"Yes, Danny." Naruto obeyed sulkily. He was now starting to wonder why he agreed to let the black haired boy train him.

"Now. We'll start by doing fifty laps around the village. Lets go! If it takes you longer than two hours, then you'll be having nothing but bread and water for dinner while I eat ramen in front of you!" Danny ordered. Naruto's eyes widened and he started running as fast as he could. Danny grinned and started running as well.

* * *

After the first hour they had already gotten the attention of all the other villagers and ninja. Many of them were amused at Naruto's struggling to keep up his pace. Two ninja in particular were even considering joining them.

"Look at those two boys exercising their springtime of youth! It's beautiful isn't it Lee!?" the first one yelled with tears running down the sides of his face.

"Oh it is, Sensei!" the younger one replied.

As the two were nearing the end of the second hour, Naruto was starting to become exhausted. Slowing to almost a trot as he tried to finish his laps. He panted as he worked his way to his final lap. Danny was already waiting at the gate to the training area by the time he got there. He stumbled in and collapsed at the halfa's feet. "Finally... made... it... now... ramen" he gasped out.

Danny looked at the stopwatch in his hand. "Ohh... tsk... too bad Naruto. You got here two minutes after the two hour mark." Danny told him, pretending to sound sorry. Naruto gave him the most horrified look he could muster. Danny laughed loudly as he walked home with the miserable blonde.

* * *

Several months past, and Danny's training regime only continued to get worse. Ranging from running up trees while having an assortment of weapons flung at them to running around traps with bare feet while trying to throw kunai at moving targets, the two didn't have a moment to relax. The blonde quickly learned that complaining about the tasks only made them take longer and harder. Danny had even gone as far as to ask the Hokage to excuse them from the academy for five months so they could train even harder.

By now the only problems Naruto seemed to having were with clones. Danny found that he was having the same issue. Neither of them could perform the clone jutsu at all. Danny had recently sent a note to clockwork to ask him if there was another version they could try.

Danny was sitting at the kitchen table sipping a cup of coffee when a letter appeared in front of him with the letters CW inscribed on the front. He picked it up and read through it. Shadow Clones for Naruto and ice clones for me? According to this I could create ectoplasmic clones. I remember now that my ectoplasm seemed to be considered another element alongside my ice abilities. I wonder if I could combine the ice and ectoplasm to make them stronger...

He slipped the note into his pocket and headed to the Hokage's office. While the money he currently got every month was enough for the bare essentials, it wasn't really much of anything. He was going to ask if he and Naruto could take on several D rank missions to earn some extra cash. It wasn't like they required ninja training really. They were just chores that the villagers were too lazy to do for themselves. He walked up the steps of the red building and knocked on the door.

"Come in," the Hokage called him. Danny stepped inside and walked over to the desk. "Ah, Daniel. How has the training been going?"

"It's been going well, Hokage-sama. Naruto is now almost completely equal with me. He caught up very quickly. I've also recently received information from my guardian about different variations of the clone jutsu we could try to alleviate our previous problem that had risen up." Danny reported with a smile.

"I think you'll make a fine sensei one of these days, Daniel. And I must thank you for keeping Naruto too busy to continue with his usual pranks." The Hokage took a breath from his pipe as he spoke.

"Oh it's not that I don't give him plenty of time to rest. It's just that on the days that I don't give him much to do, he sleeps as much as he can. Even Naruto has to get tired at some point. The academy classrooms just did a piss poor job of getting rid of all his pent up energy. If anything the classroom just made it worse, and did nothing to help him learn to be a ninja. It'd be better if there was more outside training for actual battle situations." Danny told him truthfully.

"I suppose you do have a bit of a point. But I know you didn't come here to gossip. Why did you come to see me?" The Hokage asked.

"I'd like to ask if it would be alright for me and Naruto to take on D rank missions. The money we're given monthly is enough for essentials but nothing else. And the extra work could be considered extra training for us. Also, I would feel better if the money we were spending was actually earned." he explained.

The Hokage thought for a moment. "I don't suppose there would be any problem with you two doing that. Alright. Come here every morning and pick out all the missions you'd like to take on." he smiled.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Danny bowed respectfully.

"You're welcome, Daniel. Off you go now." The Hokage shooed him away.

* * *

The remainder of their academy years went off without a hitch. Naruto had by now outgrown his constant shouting and terrible fighting tactics. He and Danny now worked as a powerful team when duel sparring. They hadn't been beaten once since they came back to the academy after their first several months of training. As a bonus, the large number of missions they did every day had done good to raise the view the villagers had of him by at least a little bit. People now treated him like a person rather than some savage animal. Though he wondered if part of that had to do with Danny turning entire stores into popsicles for weeks at a time if they dared treat Naruto badly.

Naruto had also forgone his 'kill me now' orange jumpsuit in favor an outfit similar to Danny's. He now wore a thin dark blue jacket over a black shirt with the white Uzumaki clan symbol on the upper right corner of his jacket and on the back. His sandals and gloves were completely black. The rest of the outfit had the same coloration that Danny's clothes did. Danny had given them to him as a present once he had finally completed everything Danny had to teach him. Though they still trained together to get stronger, it was no longer a matter of teacher and student, but rather, of rivals. To say that Iruka and the Hokage were surprised by the change in Naruto would be an understatement.

The two boys were now sitting at the back of the classroom as they waited for their turn to take the test to become genin. Danny looked up as Iruka came into the room with his clipboard. "Daniel Fenton. You're up next."


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto**

* * *

Danny walked into the classroom and looked up at Iruka and Mizuki, who were sitting at a desk at the front of the room. Iruka was looking down at the clipboard in his hands still.

"Your task will be to preform the clone jutsu, transformation jutsu, , and a single jutsu of your own creation for extra credit." Iruka informed him.

Danny simply nodded to him and started by creating a clone. He formed his hands into a single sign. "Ice clone jutsu!" Ice formed together to create five clones.

Iruka nodded, looking impressed. "Next," he ordered.

"Transform," Danny shouted, and turned into a perfect copy of Iruka, getting a simple nod in confirmation after Iruka check him for any flaws. For the personal jutsu, he decided to use his most recent jutsu. He preformed the necessary seals before calling out his jutsu. "Ice style: Ice Trap Justu!" Ice shot up around Iruka and bound his arms and legs so that he couldn't move. After a few moments he released the jutsu.

Iruka smiled at him. "You pass with flying colors, Danny." Iruka then handed him his new ninja headband before going to call the other students.

* * *

Danny looked around outside after the exams were done for Naruto. After finishing, they had been completely excused from class, since there was no point in them staying to do nothing. He finally caught sight of the blonde leaving the building, a face splitting smile etched on his face.

"You passed?" Danny asked.

"Yea!" Naruto cheered, causing his 'brother' to grin widely.

"That's great!" Danny beamed.

"I can't believe the dead last managed to pass too." Came a snobby girlish voice.

The two boys turned around to see Sakura, a girl they'd both come to hate. Danny smirked. "I know right? I mean. Who knew that a girl who's only talent is squealing over a boy would become a ninja." he stated mockingly, causing the girl to seethe.

"How dare you!" she screamed, and went to punch him in the face.

Danny caught the punch effortlessly. He looked at her blankly. "You know for a supposed genius, that was pretty stupid." he muttered. He pushed on her fist which caused her to fall back on her butt.

"Lets go, Danny." Naruto sighed. Danny nodded in agreement.

* * *

Over the days leading up to day they would be assigned their team, Naruto and Danny had decided to spar as much as they could, expecting some kind of test from their new jonin sensei.

"I wonder who our team mates will be?" Danny asked.

"Dunno. Hopefully it's someone we can stand though and no fan girls." Naruto shrugged.

Danny picked up one of his kunai and began to sharpen it. "Is the big furry asshole happy with your progress?"

"I guess so. I'm not so sure that he's EVER happy with anything. Though I suppose you can't blame him. I know I wouldn't be happy if I had to sleep in a cage for years with nowhere to go and nothing to do." Over the course of their training and meditating, Naruto had discovered the Nine Tails residing within him and had discussed the matter with Danny before they decided to keep it a secret between them.

"Good point" Danny agreed.

"When do we need to go?" Naruto asked.

"Tomorrow morning around the same time school would usually start." Danny informed, putting his gear away.

"We should probably get to bed then. It's pretty late." Naruto got up and went to his room.

"Yea." Danny sighed and went to bed as well.

* * *

The next morning they ate breakfast quickly as they could before racing to the academy.

"Last one there's a rotten egg!" Naruto cried.

"Oh you're on!" Danny sped up.

They made it to the academy in record time, with Danny bursting through the door a heartbeat before the blonde. "I win!" the raven haired teen cheered.

"I'll get you next time." Naruto promised.

They noticed that all of the other students had looked up to stare them. They shrugged it off. Getting looks like that was a regular occurrence since they started competing. They walked over to the two empty seats beside Sasuke and sat down.

It wasn't long before the academy's two biggest fan girls ran to the door and got stuck in the frame. Trying to get in at the same time. They finally managed to burst through and cheered that they had won. Danny rubbed his temple in annoyance.

Sakura looked around and smiled brightly as she set her eyes on Sasuke. She ran over and tried to shove both Danny and Naruto out of their seats to get to teen.

"Sakura... Don't touch me unless you want a broken hand." Danny growled and pushed her back a few paces.

Sakura yelped and fell back on her butt.

Soon all the other girls in the room, aside Hinata, started fighting over who should get to sit by Sasuke.

Danny glared at them. "Will all of you just shut up? You're giving me a headache."

Ino rolled up one of her sleeves to punch him. "How dare you talk to me like that?"

Danny rolled his eyes, "What do you think you're some kind of big deal? I almost pity Sasuke for having to put up with you all."

* * *

Unbeknownst to them, their future jonin teachers were watching them through the hokage's crystal ball.

"So... this is Danny..." Kakashi commented.

"Yes. Since he joined the academy he's shown exceptional skills. It's been mentioned that he fights as though he's been in combat for several years. Though he's also openly hostile towards all the other students aside Naruto and the students that don't bother them."

"I see..." Kakashi then turned his attention to Naruto. "He's certainly changed from the last time I saw him..."

"Danny played a big hand in that. He started training Naruto and the boy hasn't been the same since."

"That must've been some training regime."

They stopped talking and looked back at the crystal ball again.

* * *

Iruka walked into the classroom. "That's enough everyone. As of today you are all ninjas. To get here, you faced difficult trials and hardships. But that's nothing. What comes next will be far more difficult. Now you are only genin. First level ninjas. All the genin, except for one team, will be grouped into three man squads. This is only because there was an odd number of students this year, leaving one out. Each squad will be lead by a jonin. An elite ninja."

The students all listened to Iruka intently, and began talking quietly among themselves over who they hoped would be in their squads.

"Well someone's gonna be in Sasuke's group. I wonder who." Ino stared down at Sakura.

Sakura glared back at her. "I don't know."

Sasuke scoffed and brooded to himself.

Danny looked over at Naruto. "It's likely that I'll be put in your team. The Hokage has seen how well we work together after all."

"That would make sense." Naruto agreed.

"We want each squad to have a balance of strengths and abilites. So that's how we set them up." Iruka informekd as he looked at the stack of papers in his hand. "I will now announce the squads."

Iruka began to call out the squads. Danny decided to tune him out until he heard his name. "Squad 7. Daniel Fenton, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha."

'You have GOT to be kidding me.' Danny groaned inwardly. Naruto slammed his head down on the desk a few times.

"Next. Squad 8. Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inazuka, and Shino Aburame."

Sakura held up a victory sign to Ino, who growled in response. "How did you get in his group?!"

Sakura didn't respond, causing Ino to growl louder.

Shikamaru gave her a strange look. "I don't get it. What do you see in a guy like that? He's not so special."

Ino glared at him. "You are so beyond clueless, Shikamaru. Don't you get it?"

His expression became a deadpan. "No, I don't get it, cause I'm not a girl."

Ino sighed. "You're so full of yourself. Jealousy's a terrible thing. I'd hate to be on your squad."

"Now squad 10. Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara," Iruka started.

"Ha! Did you say something about hating to be on my squad?" Shikamaru boasted.

"AND. Choji Akimichi." Iruka continued.

Ino held her head and made a face.

"Those are all the squads." Iruka finished. "After lunch, you'll meet your new jonin teachers. Until then, class dismissed."

* * *

Danny and Naruto left and went to sit on the roof of the building.

Danny was eating silently.

"Is the Hokage spiting me for all the pranks I pulled?!" Naruto exclaimed angrily as he scarfed down his food.

Danny sighed. "Possibly. Though it might also have something to do with the terrible grades you had prior to my training you. And even though you've improved, those grades are still deciding what you will be doing."

"But he knows we hate Sasuke and Sakura! This is stupid!" Naruto growled.

Danny finished up his food and set the tray down. "Yea. He does. But how do you know this isn't a test to see if you can still function with people you don't like. We're this village's military. If we can't complete a mission because of some academy squabbles, then we have no right to further our training. "

Naruto huffed. "Why must you be so smart?"

Danny smirked a little. "Years of training."

"That's your answer to everything!"

"But it's true. Several times I've had to put my differences aside and work with people I don't like. Even sworn enemies." Danny stood up. "Lets go back inside. We can talk more there."

"Alright." Naruto sighed and finished his own food as well, before putting their things back in their bag.

* * *

After nearly an hour past when their sensei was supposed to be there, team 7's sensei had still yet to show up. As a result, the team was starting to get agitated.

Danny was sitting in the back, balancing a kunai on the tip of his finger.

"Dammit. He was supposed to be here an hour ago." Naruto complained.

"Maybe he died," Danny joked.

"That's horrible!" Sakura shouted at him.

"Shoot me." he deadpanned.

Their arguing was cut off as the door slid open. A man with gravity defying silver hair stepped inside. His headband covered his left eye and he had a mask covering everything else except his right eye and ear. "Meet me on the roof." He told them before walking back out.

The team looked at each other and shrugged and walked up to the top.

Once on the roof the team sat on the stairs and their sensei sat on the railing, facing them. "Alright, why don't you introduce yourselves. One at a time."

"Introduce ourselves? Well... What are we supposed to say?" Sakura asked.

"Things you like. Things you hate. Dreams for the future. Hobbies. Things like that." their sensei explained.

"Why don't you go first?" Naruto asked.

"Me? I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate. I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future... never really thought about it. As for my hobbies... I have lots of hobbies. " Kakashi introduced.

Sakura wasn't satisfied. "Well that was totally useless. All he really told his is his name."

Kakashi raised his hands up palm side up. "Ok. Your turn. You on the right. You first." he gestured to Naruto.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like my brother's homemade ramen and sparring with him. I hate people who hurt little kids for reasons they can't do anything about. My hobbies are training with Danny and pulling pranks people who deserve. My dream for the future is to become the greatest Hokage." Naruto introduced himself.

'He's grown up in an interesting way...' Kakashi thought to himself. "Next." Kakashi gestured to Danny.

Danny sat up and began to introduce himself "I'm Daniel Fenton, though I prefer to be called Danny. I like spending time with Naruto, fighting ghosts, and being high up in the air. I hate people who threaten my loved ones. My hobby... um... obsession... is protecting my loved ones and people who can't defend themselves. I don't really have a dream for the future."

'Fighting ghosts?' "Oookay. Next." Kakashi turned his attention to Sakura.

"I'm Sakura Haruno. What I like... uh... I mean the person I like is..." she glanced at Sasuke. "uh.. My hobby is... uh... " She let out a small giggle, "My dream for the future is..." She glanced at Sasuke again before letting out a squeal.

"Annd... What do you hate?"

"Naruto." Sakura deadpanned.

"Last one."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things. And I don't particularly 'like' anything. What I have is not a dream. Because I WILL make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan. And destroy... a certain... someone." Sasuke said darkly.

'I think it would be best if I kept a close eye on him.' Danny thought to himself, eyes narrowed.

"Good. You're each unique and you have your own ideas. We'll have our first mission tomorrow." Kakashi eye smiled at them.

"What kind of mission?" Naruto asked calmly.

"It's a task that the five of us will do together." Kakashi began. "It's a survival test that decides whether or not you are actually ready to be genin. The fail rate is 66%."

"Sounds like fun." Danny smirked, causing the others to give him a strange look.

"That's it. You're dismissed. Oh. Tomorrow you better skip breakfast. Or else... you'll puke. " Kakashi told them before leaving.

Danny looked down as he remembered something Clockwork had told him before he came here. That the Leaf focused heavily on teamwork. He figured that whatever this test was, it would have something to do with working together.

* * *

The next day the Naruto and Danny arrived at their new training ground an hour early.

"So what all do you plan to do?" Naruto asked.

"I plan to set up traps all over the training ground. I went to the library and looked up whatever I could on Kakashi last night and that nobody has ever passed it before. So we need to be prepared." Danny explained as he pulled out all his trap equipment.

"Alright. I'll help." Naruto smiled and got up to help him out. Together they covered every inch of the training ground with traps.

It wasn't long until Sasuke and Sakura came to the field as well. Danny and Naruto came out from the trees and greeted them. "Hey." Danny greeted.

"What do you want?" Sakura asked.

"I wanted to go over a plan with you. I did some research last night." he explained quickly.

Sasuke looked up in interest.

"When I looked up his record, it said that nobody had ever passed his test before. I also know it'll be something to do with fighting him. He's obviously a tough teacher to please. I believe we're going to need to work together. " Danny stated. He also gave them both granola bars so they wouldn't be as hungry.

"Kakashi-sensei told us not to eat..." Sakura said.

"No. It was more like a suggestion. He never ordered us to not eat. Besides. I've got a feeling that it was a ploy to weaken us." he started. "Anyways... He's obviously going to test us with something that will catch us off guard. Whatever it is, we'll need to see through it."

"Why should we work with you though? I thought you hated us?" Sakura asked.

"I kinda do. However, this is a mission and we are a team. They didn't put us in a team for no reason. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that." Danny stated.

As expected, Kakashi got there a couple hours late. This gave them plenty of time to go over several different fighting tactics.

"Your test today will be getting these two bells from me." Kakashi held up two bells. "By the end of today, whoever doesn't get the bells not only doesn't get to have lunch, but they will also be sent back to the academy."

Kakashi was a bit surprised when the team wasn't phased at all by the prospect of not eating anything. "If you want to get the bells you will need to come at me with the intent to kill. And with that... begin!"

Danny and Naruto wasted no time in starting off while Sakura and Sasuke sped off to hide. Danny got in close and went to sweep a foot under Kakashi to break his balance. Kakashi jumped out of the way and barely avoided a near punch to the face from Naruto. He grabbed Naruto's arm and threw him across the clearing. Danny used his distraction to make a grab for the bells. Kakashi however noticed this and kicked him away. Danny grunted and held his stomach as he slid across the dirt, though he managed to stay standing upright.

"You won't beat me that easily." He made a hand seal. "Ice style: Ice trap jutsu!" he cried as ice crept up Kakashi's arms and legs. He was surprised however when Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke and was replaced with a log.

Danny stretched out his senses and looked in all directions. He was a bit surprised when a hand suddenly came up from the ground and grabbed his ankle. He let out a small cry as he was dragged into the dirt. Kakashi bent down over him and grinned. "Nice try. But you're a bit overconfident."

Now it was Danny's turn to grin as he suddenly melted, showing that he was in fact an ice clone. "Ice style: Blizzard!" The flurry of snow that was blown up around the training ground made it hard for the jonin, and two of their teammates to see. Kakashi hissed as a kunai flew past his face, slitting open the side of his mask. Then several Naruto clones burst through the snow and flew at Kakashi wildly. "Kamakazi attack!" they screamed and clung onto him. They all then proceeded to explode.

Kakashi quickly used the replacement technique again to get out of the way of the explosion, landing back in the trees. His eyes widened slightly as his foot snagged on a tripwire, sending a flurry of kunai and shuriken at him. Danny used this to get close to him again and punched him in the jaw. As Kakashi went to stab him with a kunai, he grabbed the jonin's wrist and used his teacher's own momentum to make his own punch a devastating blow to the stomach. He wasn't surprised to see the Kakashi he hit had been a clone. He then felt something cold press against his neck, and knew it was a kunai.

To Kakashi's surprise, another kunai was thrown at him. It was thrown by none other than Sasuke. Kakashi quickly let go of Danny and backed away as Sasuke rushed at him and went to kick him in the head. Kakashi caught his leg and moved his head out of the way. Sasuke flipped in his hold and made a grab for the bells. One of his fingers grazed a single bell before he was slammed into the ground. Naruto burst from the trees and landed a good punch to Kakashi's face.

This had given Danny plenty of time to go through seals of his own. "Ice style: Ice breath Jutsu!" He breathed out a spray of ice and froze the jonin in place again. This gave Sakura a chance to rush out of the bushes and grab the bells. She cheered as she held them up.

Kakashi pulled himself out of the ice. "Good job Sakura. Now you know only one other person can pass. Who do you choose?" he asked.

Sakura just shrugged and tossed the bells to Danny and Naruto. Naruto then gave his to Sasuke.

Kakashi looked them over. "Danny and Sasuke eh? Well in that case... you all... pass." he gave them an eye smile. "Now I want you all to remember these words. Those who break the rules are scum. However, those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum. Starting tomorrow we'll begin taking missions as an official team."


	6. Chapter 6

**I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto**

* * *

"Fox. I'm at point A."

"Dark. I'm at point B."

"Flower. I'm at point C."

"Ghost. I'm at point D."

The four voices chimed in one by one over a radio transmission.

"Silver. That's good. Now, Team 7. Huh?"

A dark figure darted through the trees with its menacing golden eyes flashing.

"The target has moved! Follow it!"

The group moved in closer as the figure rushed into another set of bushes.

"I see the target." Naruto reported.

"Good. What's your distance from the target?" Kakashi asked.

"Five meters. I'm ready when you are.." Danny answered.

"So am I." Sakura repeated.

"Same here." Sasuke stared straight ahead.

"Lets go." Naruto finished.

"Alright... NOW!"

The group shot from the trees and ambushed the target. Danny screamed as the target started to claw him. One thing he knew for sure. Cats don't like ghosts.

"We got it." Naruto laughed over the intercom.

"Does it have the ribbon on it's right ear?"

"Yea. It's the right target." Sasuke answered this time. Even he was holding back a snicker. Sakura was standing over Danny and giggling.

"Get it off!" Danny cried.

"Good. Lost pet, Tora, captured. Mission accomplished." Kakashi finished. Gathering his team to take the pet back.

By the time they got back to the Hokage's office, Danny was completely coated in claw marks. "Please?" he begged.

"For the last time, Danny. No. You can't punt the cat off the Hokage monument." Kakashi berated.

Danny grinned at the cat evilly as it was crushed by the Daiymo's wife. 'Oh, sweet revenge, you damned cat.'

"Now, for you next few missions, there's babysitting, fixing fences, gardening, helping with shopping." the Hokage began.

"Actually, Hokage-sama. I think my team is ready for a higher ranking mission." Kakashi interrupted.

"Now just wait a moment. They were just promoted to genin a week ago!" Iruka argued.

"No. I think I agree with him, Iruka-san. We can't expect to keep them holed up forever." The Hokage smiled. "I think we have a C ranked mission that will suit you will."

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

"It's an escort mission. Send in our visitor!" he called.

An old drunk man walked into the room and looked the group over. "What the? A bunch of snot nosed kids? And then there's the runt there. He doesn't look like he could put up a fight at all." he said rudely.

Naruto sent him a nasty glare, but tried to remain calm.

"Don't you think you should be a little nicer to the people who are supposed to keep you safe you drunk old man?" Danny asked.

"Whatever. I am Tazuna, a master bridge builder, and I must return to my country. I'm building a bridge there that will change our world I and expect you to protect me even if it means giving up your life." he introduced.

"That's enough. You four, meet us at the gate in two hours. That should give you plenty of time to pack everything you're going to need for this mission." Kakashi ordered.

* * *

Danny and Naruto arrived a couple of minutes after Sasuke and Sakura did. The two looked Danny up and down, noting not only his backpack, which was slightly larger than theirs, but also a katana he had strapped to his back which they had never seen before.

"I didn't know you could wield a sword, Danny." Sakura commented.

"That's because I didn't want you to know up until now. While we were in the village, I really didn't need it for the missions we were doing, so I left it at home. Since we're leaving the village now though, I have nothing holding me back." Danny explained.

"I guess that makes sense." She shrugged. Since their survival test with Kakashi, Danny was starting to become a bit less hostile towards Sakura and Sasuke, tolerating them now.

They looked up as they heard Kakashi and Tazuna walk up behind them.

"Holy crap, Kakashi-sensei. You're on time for once. I wasn't aware you knew how to do that." Naruto mocked lightly.

"Oh, can it Naruto. Now isn't the time. Lets go." Kakashi sighed a bit.

They started walking down the path through the woods. Unknown to the others, Danny had sent small robots on ahead of them to do some recon, and was looking at a screen that appeared on a visor that covered his left eye to see what they might be heading up to.

"What were those things, Danny?" Kakashi asked.

"They're basically little metal constructs with cameras installed called drones, the camera itself is called a gopro, though they're my own variation of it. Made to be more durable than the type that people in my country would use. They also are water proof, and have small guns installed into them so they can defend themselves. They will self destruct if captured by an enemy, to keep them from stealing the technology. Using this screen, I can use them to scout out the area ahead of us." Danny explained.

"That's pretty impressive. I hadn't realized how behind we were from the other countries in terms of technology." Kakashi admitted.

Danny shrugged. "That tends to happen when a country is cut off from the rest of the world. But that can also be a good thing. For example your country lacks the pollution that mine does. The air and water are significantly cleaner."

Kakashi nodded in understanding.

Danny looked at his screen again and narrowed his eyes. "Kakashi-sensei, a few meters ahead of us there's a strange puddle of water. It hasn't rained in a while. We should probably be on guard." he reported, pressing a button on the side of the screen to make it disappear to look like a simple ear piece.

The rest of the team took this information and went on guard as well as they continued to walk. They finally spotted the puddle as they got close to it. Kakashi decided to use this to test how his students would react if anything were to happen to him.

Two figures suddenly burst from the puddle, connected by a chain. They targeted Kakashi first and appeared to tear him apart.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura screamed in fright.

"Sakura guard Tazuna!" Danny called to her. He drew his sword and used the handle to catch on the chain that held the nin together. Having not expected this as they went after Tazuna, they crashed into each other. "Sasuke! Naruto!"

The two came in on both sides. Naruto slammed his knee into one nin's jaw while Sasuke threw a kunai into the other's chest, though not inflicting a fatal wound. Danny used this time to go through handsigns after he stabbed his sword into the ground. "Ice style: Ice Trap Jutsu!" he called, sending ice along the chains and freezing the two in place. He looked up in time to see Kakashi stepping out from the trees.

"K- Kakashi-Sensei. I thought you were..." Sakura stammered.

"It was a replacement jutsu." he told her calmly, gesturing to the tattered log where his 'body' was supposed to be. "Good work you four."

"These ninja are chunin from the village hidden in the mist. Their specialty is relentless attack. They keep fighting no matter what the sacrifice." Kakashi explained.

"Why did you leave it to the genin to take care of them when you knew what was coming?" Tazuna asked.

"I needed to see who they were after. Us...Ninja attacking ninja. Or... you. The master bridge builder. When you put in your request, you put in for standard protection from robbers and such. You didn't say there were ninja hunting you down. If we knew this, it would be a B-rank mission or higher. Our task was simply to get you to your destination and protect you while you finished building your bridge. I'm sure you have your reasons. But lying to us isn't acceptable. This mission is beyond this team." Kakashi scolded.

Sakura held her hands close to her chest. "We're genin. We aren't ready for this yet. We should go back."

"Hold it." Danny stopped them.

"What is it, Danny?" Kakashi asked.

Danny looked towards the bridge builder. "Tazuna. Why did you lie to us. What's the real issue."

"You see... my country is currently being ruled over by a tyrant named Gato. Of the Gato shipping industries. The reason I requested a C-rank mission was because that was all my village could afford. Gato is after me because the bridge I'm building would open new trade routes, and make him lose his grasp on my country. I'm sorry I lied to you. But if you leave, I'll be assassinated before I make it home. And there will be no bridge. The land of waves will be doomed." Tazuna looked at the ground.

Danny looked at his team, then back at the bridge builder. "In that case. I want to help you. Even though this mission is beyond the ranking we were expecting. We're ninja, and we should expect things not to always go as planned. And I made a vow to protect those weaker than me from those who hurt them. Even at the cost of my own life. That's what my powers are for." he declared.

Kakashi looked at the other genin. "And what do you all say."

Sasuke smirked. "I say we keep going. I'm not afraid."

"Yea! We can do it, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto threw his fist up into the air.

Sakura tensed a little. Scared but determined not to disappoint her crush. "I- I think so too!"

Kakashi sighed. "I guess we have no choice. We'll have to keep guarding you."

"Thank you so much." Tazuna smiled gratefully at them.

* * *

The group came to a shore and waited for a boat to carry them to the other side. They stayed as quiet as they could, so as not to alert any possible enemies. Since the mist would be too thick for his drones to get a clear image, Danny had called them back and packed them away into his bag.

Once they were in the boat, they looked up at the unfinished bridge in awe. It was much bigger than they had expected.

They entered a large tunnel once on the other side of the water. Once through the tunnel they reached a small wooden dock.

Tazuna turned to the group. "Alright. Take me to my home. And I mean get me there in one piece." he ordered.

"Right." Kakashi agreed and led them down the path to Tazuna's house. The next ninja they send won't be chunin. They'll be jonin. Elite ninja with deadly skills. Kakashi thought with a sigh.

The path seemed quiet as they walked. Though Naruto seemed to detect something and suddenly threw a kunai into the woods. Everyone else was a bit surprised by this action. Kakashi went to investigate and saw that Naruto had just barely missed a snow rabbit.

"Look what you did Naruto!" Sakura shouted at him once she saw the rabbit.

'A snow rabbit? It's fur is white... odd for this time of year. Wait... Oh shit.' "Everyone get down!" Danny cried and pulled the bridge builder to the ground beside him while Naruto pulled Sakura down just in time as a huge sword flew over their heads. The blade got lodged in a tree and a strange man stood perched on top of it. He had spiky dark brown hair and bandages wrapped around his face. He wore no shirt and had light purple pants that had leg warmers around his shins. He also had arm warmers going from the middle of his hands to his elbows. On his head was a headband with the symbol for a hidden mist ninja.

Kakashi looked up at him with a calculative gaze while the others stood behind him. He stepped forward slowly. "Well. Well. If it isn't Zabuza Momochi. Rogue Ninja from the village hidden in the mist. If you're our opponent I'll need this." he raised up his headband to reveal he had a Sharingan eye, with a scar over it.

"Kakashi of the Sharingan eye. Did I get that right?" Zabuza asked.

Sasuke looked at Kakashi in surprise.

"Now quick. Mongi Formation. Protect the bridge builder. And stay out of this fight." Kakashi ordered. The genin all nodded and got around Tazuna at all sides.

"Well. It looks like I get to see the Sharingan in action. This is an honor." Zabuza pulled his sword from the tree and seemed to vanish. He then landed on the water and began summoning a thick mist to blind them. Sasuke and Sakura were put off a little. However not as much as they would have been had Danny not often used his Blizzard jutsu to hinder their sight during practice, in order to prepare them for a situation where they couldn't see. "Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!" Zabuza called as the fog reached its thickest point.

"Who is this guy, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"His name is Zabuza Momichi. He's an expert of the silent killing technique." he explained.

Zabuza began to pour out a large amount of KI. "Eight points. Larix. Spine. Lungs. Liver. Jugular. Subclavian Artery. Kidneys. Heart. Now. Which will be my kill point."

Kakashi and Danny began to push back with their own KI. Sasuke was looking worse for wear. Sakura was shaking in place. Naruto didn't seem to be all that bothered. Sasuke held a kunai towards himself as if about to commit suicide.

"Sasuke! Calm down. I'll protect you with my life. All of you." Kakashi told him. Stopping him. "I will not allow my comrades to die. Trust me."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Zabuza was suddenly between the genin and Tazuna. "It's over." he went to swing his sword. He was surprised however when another sword stopped his. Danny was holding his blade against Zabuza's. Glaring at him with equal KI. He pushed some of his ghost energy into his limbs and forced the rogue nin back. He pulled out a kunai and stabbed Zabuza in the stomach. However what flowed out of the nin was not blood, but water.

'A water clone.' Danny narrowed his eyes.

"Behind you, Danny!" Naruto cried.

Danny looked behind him to see a blade coming at him.

"Die!" Zabuza shouted.

Danny appeared to be cut in half. However what was cut in half melted. It was an ice clone.

Kakashi now had a blade to Zabuza's throat. "Don't move. Now it's over."

"Nice try. But I'm not that easy to fool." Zabuza suddenly burst into water. A second Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi.

Kakashi barely dodged the blade that was swung over his head but was then kicked through the air by Zabuza and landed in the water. Zabuza went in after him.

"I can't believe Kakashi sensei was kicked through the air like that." Sakura murmured.

"He has great physical skill." Sasuke analyzed.

"Where's Danny?" Naruto asked, looking around for his rival. He had thought he was completely on par with Danny. Though it appeared this was not the case. Danny was far more experienced in combat than he was. 'Has he been holding back against me this entire time?' he thought to himself in shock. 'What else has he been hiding from us?'

Kakashi swam up from the water. But was too late to do anything as Zabuza caught him in a water prison jutsu. 'Escaping underwater? Big mistake.' Kakashi cursed silently to himself.

"Hehehehe. This prison is made of water. But it's stronger than steel. It's hard to fight when you can't move. So much for the great Kakashi. I'll finish you off later. But first. Your little friends will have to be eliminated. " Zabuza held up a seal. "Water Clone Jusu."

Another clone appeared in front of Naruto and the others. Danny still hadn't reappeared. "You think wearing a headband makes you a ninja. When you've hovered between life and death so many times it doesn't phase you, then you may be called a ninja. When you've become so deadly your profile is entered in my bingo book, then you MAY have earned the title of ninja. But to call upstarts such as you ninja is a joke." he growled.

"Oh really?" A voice said from a tree branch. "Well then I guess I'm more than just a ninja. Since my very existence walks the line between life and death. I'm neither alive nor dead. You want a real ninja to face you? Then fight me."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura looked up to see it was a boy who looked a lot like Danny that had shouted down at Zabuza.

"And just who are you?" Zabuza asked.

"My name is Phantom." the boy responded. He has snowy white hair and glowing green eyes. He wore a black hazmat suit with a white symbol on his chest that was identical to the one on Danny's jacket. His gloves and boots were white like his hair. On his back was a sword just like Danny's as well as a strange object that looked like a thermos.

"That's Danny's friend he told me about!" Naruto shouted.

Phantom shot through the air with his katana still in hand and locked blades with the water clone. Though the clone broke this hold and forced Phantom back a small ways.

Naruto snapped out of his trance. "We need to help him!" he put his hands in a seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he shouted and created 30 clones. The clones all rushed forward and attacked Zabuza.

Phantom quickly got out of the way.

Sasuke weaved through hand-signs himself. "Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" Sasuke called and blew a massive fireball over both the clones and Zabuza.

They were all surprised to see Zabuza had replaced himself with a log.

Phantom turned around quickly and saw that Zabuza had gotten behind him. The water clone went to slice Phantom in half, but to his surprise, Phantom simply turned that part of his body intangible, which caused the blade to pass through him harmlessly.

"W- what are you?" Zabuza stammered.

"I'm a ghost. Do it now Sasuke!" Phantom shouted.

Sasuke was holding up a large shuriken. "Demon Shuriken: Windmill of Shadows!" he cried, and threw it directly at the two fighters.

"A shuriken? You'll never touch me with that!" the clone smirked, but was surprised when it flew right over his head and went for the original. When the shuriken looked as though it would hit the original, he simply reached out and caught it. Though he was surprised again when another shuriken appeared in its shadow. He quickly jumped to avoid it. The shuriken then burst in a puff of smoke and revealed to be Naruto. Naruto threw a kunai at his arm and caused him to release Kakashi to avoid it.

The clone glared at Phantom. "You distracted me! You little freak!"

Phantom scowled angrily and blasted him with a full force ectoblast, causing him to dispel.

Meanwhile the original was now stalking towards Naruto angrily. "You little brat!" He was about to cut Naruto down with the shuriken he had caught when Kakashi stopped him with his own arm.

Naruto burst out of the water, breathing hard.

"That was an excellent plan you three. Great job." Kakashi praised.

Sasuke and Sakura both got in front of Tazuna to defend him.

Zabuza began to push Kakashi back with the blade, but Kakashi sent it flying away.

The two jonin jumped back and started going through handsigns at the same time. Finally they stopped. "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" they both said at the same time, causing two water dragons to burst from the water and attack each other. They burst in an explosion of water.

Phantom quickly flew over to Naruto and pulled him out of the water before the wave could hit him. He flew up into the air so they could watch and be able to move quickly.

Kakashi and Zabuza were at a standstill beneath the falling water with their blades locked. They pushed back on each other and slid across the water away from each other again.

They ran in a circle around each other and Kakashi began to completely mimic Zabuza's every move at the exact same time. Kakashi then began to predict what he was going to say before he said it. They then started going through handsigns again.

"Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu!" Kakashi shouted, causing the water to swirl around him and move toward Zabuza, sending him through the water roughly. The water hit the trees and knocked them away. The others all quickly shielded themselves from the water. Phantom flew with Naruto back towards the others as Zabuza was crushed against a tree by the water.

Kunai were flung through the air and hit Zabuza. "You're finished." Kakashi told him, as he stood above him on a branch.

Zabuza looked up at him. "How? Can you see into the future?"

Kakashi raised a kunai. "Yes. This is your last battle. Ever."

However before he could do a thing, two senbon needles flew through the air and hit Zabuza in the neck. Kakashi's eyes widened and he turned to see a hunter nin standing on another branch above his across the clearing.

"You were right. It was his last battle." The hunter nin said cooly.

Phantom narrowed his eyes as Kakashi checked Zabuza's pulse and found nothing.

"Thank you. I've been tracking Zabuza for a long time. Waiting for this chance to finally take him down." she bowed to him.

"By your mask I see you're a tracker nin from the village hidden in the mist."

"Impressive. You're well informed." the tracker praised. "I'm a member of the elite tracking unit of my village. It was my duty to stop Zabuza."

'From her size and voice. She seems to be the same age as Naruto. Yet she's an elite assassin. She's no ordinary kid. But what is she.' Kakashi thought to himself.

"I'll be taking Zabuza with me now." She picked the man up and then left the area. They were about to say something else when Kakashi suddenly collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto ran over to him. "What's wrong with him?"

Phantom stepped over to them. "Looks like chakra exhaustion. You need to get him to a safe place where he can rest. I'll bring Danny to you. Summoning me took a lot out of him. Don't worry. I'll be able to find you no problem and drop him off." he smiled and disappeared into the forest.

* * *

Kakashi woke up the next day in a strange room. 'Ugh. I think I overdid it with my sharingan.' He looked to his side and noticed that Danny was out cold on a futon beside him.

He was broken out of his thoughts when a woman in pink with long black hair walked into the room. "Waking up, huh? Are you alright?"

Kakashi struggled to get up. "I've been better. It'll be a week before I can move normally."

She put her hands on her hips. "See. It's better if you don't move. So just lie down."

"Hnn. Right." Kakashi sighed and lied back down.

The other three members of Team 7 and Tazuna walked into the room.

"Look. Kakashi-sensei is coming around." Naruto smiled.

Sakura went to sit beside him. "Kakashi-sensei, your sharingan is amazing and everything, but if it puts that much strain on you, maybe it's not worth it. "

Kakashi sighed again. "Sorry."

Tazuna was fanning himself by the door. "Well. He did take down one of the most powerful assassins. So we'll be safe for a while."

"There was something strange about that tracker. I didn't realize it at first. Trackers usually destroy the body on the spot. But this tracker didn't. Think of the weapons she used." Kakashi looked at them.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Throwing needles."

Kakashi nodded. "That's right. None of it adds up."

"What are you on about? You demolished that assassin." Tazuna grumbled.

"Here's the truth. Zabuza is still alive." Kakashi concluded.

"But you said he had no heart beat!" Sakura cried.

"He didn't. He was put in a trance like state that resembles death. The weapon that was used are called Senbon. They pierce deeply but not enough to kill unless they hit a vital organ. 'Not' in the neck. They're modified for needles used for medical treatments like acupuncture. Trackers are trained to know every detail of the human body. Causing the heart to stop temporarily leaving the body alive is an easy matter for them. First, carrying Zabuza's body away even though it's much heavier than she is. Second, using senbon, which have a precise affect, but are rarely fatal. From these two factors we can conclude that the tracker wasn't trying to kill Zabuza, but was trying to save him." Kakashi explained.

"Come on. Aren't you over thinking this?" Tazuna asked.

"Encountering suspicion, the ninja prepares quickly. Hesitation leads to disaster. Every shinobi knows this saying." Kakashi told him.

"Sensei. You said.. Prepare quickly. But how can we do that when you can barely move." Sakura asked.

Kakashi laughed a little. "I can still train you."

"Hold on. A little last minute training won't make us strong enough to fight Zabuza. You couldn't defeat him even with your Sharingan. We have to be reasonable about this." Sakura shouted.

"Sakura. Why was I able to stop Zabuza? Because. You all helped me." Kakashi eye smiled at them.

"That's right. We'll beat him. Believe it." Naruto grinned, ready for another chance to fight a powerful opponent.

"Well I don't believe it. And nothing's gonna be good." said a small voice, getting their attention.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked.

Tazuna held his arms out. "Ahh! Inari!"

"Inari, that was very rude!" Tazuna's daughter scolded. "These ninja helped your grandpa and brought him here safely."

"Mom don't you see these people are gonna die. Gato and his men will come back and find them and wipe them out." Inari cried.

"Hey now. Don't count us out yet. "

Everyone looked to Danny, who was now sitting up and looking at Inari.

"There's no such thing as heros! You're all just full of stupid ideas!" Inari glared at him.

"What was that?" Naruto growled.

"If you wanna stay alive you should go back where you came from." Inari then walked back to the doors.

"Inari where are you going?" Tazuna asked.

"To look out at the ocean. I wanna be alone." he snapped and walked out.

"Sorry about that." Tazuna apologized.

Kakashi looked over at him. "Would you mind leaving us alone for a moment?"

"Not at all." Tazuna smiled and walked out of the room with his daughter.

Kakashi now looked at Danny. "We need to talk."

Danny scratched the back of his head. "Yea. I figured as much."

"First of all, who is Phantom. How did he know where to find us?" Kakashi asked.

Danny moved over so he could talk to him easier. "Phantom is my best friend and oldest partner. He's a ghost. Back in my home town we used to fight together with two of my other friends and my older sister to keep the town safe from evil ghosts. After I was kicked out, Phantom followed me here. I can summon him no matter where I am."

"I see. Can you call him right now?" Kakashi asked.

"Afraid not. Summoning him takes a lot out of me." Danny apologized. 'I feel like all of this is going to come back to bite me later. But for now, I'm not completely sure I trust them with this information yet. Though I may tell Naruto later. I trust him more than the others. In reality, transforming doesn't really drain me at all. So I took a strong sleeping pill to knock myself out after landing near Tazuna's house.' Danny thought to himself.

"Danny, have you been hiding your real strength from us? From me?" Naruto asked, sounding hurt.

Danny looked down. "Yea. I guess I have been. Though I didn't do it to hurt you. It was to catch our enemies off guard. If you all thought there was nothing left for me to do, it would give me another edge of surprise. I'm sorry I lied to you Naruto. I promise I'll make it up to you later."

"I'm impressed Danny. You hid a big chunk of your strength, even from me. You held back even during the bell test, but why?" Kakashi asked.

"Well. I knew from the start what your test was all about, and really was just curious to see how strong you were. I also took off some of the weights I was wearing before we came on this mission. I had been wearing them during the bell test as well" Danny explained.

"I thought you said you didn't have anything else you could teach me, Danny." Naruto glared at him a little.

Danny sighed. "Sorry, again. The reason I didn't have anything more to teach you wasn't because I had no more abilities, but because the vast majority of my abilities are impossible for you to use."

"So, basically you have a bloodline limit?" Sasuke asked.

"Yea. Basically. My ice release is only one of them. I also have a second source of energy that's completely separate from chakra. Such a thing is usually considered impossible. Normally, beings can only have one or the other. But anyways. What this second energy allows me to do is enhance my strength, speed, and senses. When I use this energy alongside chakra the affect is tripled. The drawback is that it takes a lot out of me. Until I can get more practice in, it's not ideal for me to attempt doing this for long periods of time." Danny explained.

"Is this ability genetic?" Kakashi asked.

Danny shrugged."I'm not exactly sure, to be honest. My parents and sister don't have abilities like mine. It's possible that it could be passed down if I were to have kids, but I can't be entirely sure." he half lied. He knew exactly why his family didn't have his abilities. But since he didn't have kids, he wasn't sure if his abilities would be passed down or not. He didn't really count Dani, as she was his clone.

"Thanks for explaining, Danny." Kakashi eye smiled at him.

"No problem." Danny smiled back. Though he could tell that Naruto still wasn't very happy with him. He would explain everything to him once they were alone.


	7. Chapter 7

I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto

* * *

A while later, the group headed into the nearby forest to begin their training.

"Alright. Training starts now." Kakashi began.

"What will we be doing?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi pointed at a tree. "Tree climbing."

Sakura tilted her head in confusion. "Tree climbing? We learned how to do that when we were little kids in the academy."

"Yep. Just one rule. No hands." Kakashi explained.

"Oh. Danny had me do that a long time ago. His guardian had explained other chakra control methods to him and he taught them to me. We worked on those a lot." Naruto stated.

Kakashi's visible eye widened in surprise. "Did he now?"

Danny nodded. "That's right."

"I shouldn't have expected anything less from you. In that case. Why don't you both demonstrate." Kakashi ordered.

"Sure thing." Danny put his hands in a seal and concentrated on his chakra. Naruto did the same. "You need to concentrate your chakra into the soles of your feet. This will allow you to stick to the tree. Too little chakra and you'll fall off the tree. Too much chakra and you'll be blown off." a small dust cloud appeared around their feet and they started walking up two of the trees until they were standing upside-down from a branch. "Until you get used to it, you should take a running start to build your momentum." Danny explained everything carefully.

Kakashi nodded at them in praise.

Sasuke was glaring at them. 'How have they managed to stay so far ahead of me? Danny should spend time teaching me these things. Not the dead last.'

Danny jumped down from the branch and looked at his team mates. "You try now."

Kakashi quickly gave them a couple kunai knives. "Use these to mark your progress each time."

The two nodded and started up the tree. Sakura made it all the way up to a low branch and sat down on it. Sasuke however didn't make it very far before he was blown off the tree.

"Hey. This is fun." Sakura giggled.

Sasuke grumbled to himself. 'Dammit. That means I'm the only one who hasn't gotten it down.'

"Who was your guardian by the way, Danny?" Kakashi asked.

"I can't tell you that. It's classified information." Danny said quietly.

Kakashi led Danny away from the others a short distance. "I feel that you're hiding something from us Danny. I don't know what it is, but I know it's big. I'm sure you have your reasons though. All ninja have their secrets. In spite of that. I wanted to ask you something important."

"What is it?" Danny was a little put off. He hadn't expected Kakashi to notice he was lying so easily.

"I can tell you're the most organized of team 7. I'm not sure what kind of hell you went through before you joined the leaf, but I can tell you faced many threats before coming here. You have a different look in your eye from the others. A look that I've only seen in those who have been in many battles, and faced many hardships. And because of that, should there ever come a time where something happens and I can't look after the team, I want to rely on you to lead them in my absence." Kakashi told him.

"R- really? You think I can handle that?" Danny stammered, shocked.

"I know you can. You have the assets of a great leader. You analyze the situation carefully, and you take whatever steps necessary to ensure the safety of your team, even though you didn't really get along with two of your team members during your academy days. You give orders to the others in the heat of battle when I'm not around already. I'm only making it official." Kakashi gave him an eye smile.

"I'm honored, Kakashi-sensei. I only do what I think is right. I won't take this for granted. I promise." he gave a small bow.

"Now, onto the subject of Naruto. How good would you say his chakra control is? How far did he get while you were training him." Kakashi asked.

"He made it through water walking. I also tested his elemental affinity and discovered he has an affinity for wind. That's all I know so far. Though I did manage to pick up some wind jutsu scrolls a little while back if you wanted to have him work on some." he handed the scrolls over to Kakashi.

"Thank you, Danny. You may go train on your own now." Kakashi order.

"Alright. Thank you. I'll leave a clone here to help the others with their training." Danny smiled and walked off deeper into the forest. He created an ice clone and sent it back with Kakashi.

* * *

Once Danny had gone a far distance away from the group he began clearing away a small area where he could work. It also had a small opening where he could see the ocean, which made it even better. He made about a hundred ice clones.

He pointed to the first group of 25 clones. "I want you all to work ice trap. Practice until you don't need to use seals anymore." He turned to the second group. "You practice blizzard." He pointed at the third next. "You work on Ice breath." Finally he pointed at the last group. "And you're going to work with me on the new technique we've been working on. We don't quit until it's perfect."

* * *

-With the clone several hours later-

Sasuke was slowly getting further and further up the tree. Though he was beginning to look annoyed. "Dammit. This is pointless." he growled to himself.

The clone looked up at him. "Troubles?"

Sasuke's eye twitched a little. He then took a breath. He turned his head away and held his chin up to look cool. Probably to contain his pride. "W- will you give me some advice."

The clone smiled. "Sure. I think your biggest mistake is that you're actually trying a little too hard. Relax. Focus on the tree. Any distractions will break your concentration. You need to block it all out."

Sasuke seemed a little surprised. He nodded and went to take the advice.

The clone stopped him. "It's getting pretty late. I can tell the others have already gone back to Tazuna's place, aside the boss. We should head back. Boss is working on something at the moment and likely won't be back for a while."

"Alright..." Sasuke agreed and followed the clone back to Tazuna's house.

Once they walked in, Naruto grinned at Sasuke. "How's the tree climbing going, Sasuke?" he taunted.

"Knock it off, Naruto. Now is not the time." The clone scolded.

"What are you? My mom?" Naruto glared at him. Still not all that happy with him obviously.

The clone just sighed. "I'll lead you to the original tomorrow. He wants to talk to you. In private." He then walked up to the rooms and shut the door behind him.

"What's up with you two?" Tazuna asked Naruto.

"It's nothing." Naruto snapped and started scarfing his food down.

After they finished eating Sakura stood up and examined the picture on the wall. "Excuse me. This picture is torn. That's a little strange isn't it? Inari was staring at it all through dinner. It looks like someone else was in the picture, but was torn out. I mean that's kinda strange isn't it?"

After a moment of silence, Tsunami answered. "It's my husband."

Tazuna looked down. "They used to call him a hero in this land."

Inari got up and went to leave.

"Inari where are you going?" Tsunami called.

Inari simply ignored her and left the room. Tsunami ran after him. "Father you can't talk about him in front of Inari. You know that."

Tazuna glared at the table.

"Inari's so. I mean. What happened to him?"

Kakashi looked at Tazuna. "Hm. Is there a story behind this?"

"He wasn't Inari's real father. He came into our family later. And he brought so much happiness. He and Inari were very close. In those days, Inari used to laugh all the time. But then..." he began crying. "All that ended. He never laughs or smiles anymore. Ever since the day everything changed. The word courage was stolen from this island. We were left feeling powerless, hopeless, and Inari suffered the most. Ever since that day. Ever since it happened."

Tazuna then went to further explain about Inari's father, and what had happened to him.

By the end of his tale Naruto was glaring at the wall. Finally he got up. "I'll prove it to him."

"Prove what?" Sakura asked.

"That in this world... there are heroes." he declared.

* * *

-with the real Danny-

That night, Danny had fallen asleep in the grass. Having drained his chakra thoroughly. Though he kept his awareness enough to move in case someone snuck up on him.

A woman wearing a pink dress wandered into the clearing and looked down at his sleeping form. 'That's one of the leaf genin that fought Zabuza.' She thought to herself. 'He's asleep. He looks as though he's been training. If I can kill him now, I can rid Zabuza of a big threat.' She reached her hand down close to Danny's throat. However, she hesitated. A blush appearing across her cheeks. 'He really isn't that bad looking...'

Before she could do anything else, Danny's eyes snapped open and he pinned her down, holding her wrists down to the grassy forest floor. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

Haku's eyes were wide, and she found herself staring in his icy blue eyes. "I- I" she stuttered out, losing her train of thought completely.

Danny narrowed his eyes impatiently.

"I was just out here to look for some herbs for my friend who's fallen ill. I'm sorry. I just saw you sleeping there and was worried." She muttered quietly, pulling her eyes away from his intense gaze. She knew from the heat she felt in her cheeks that she was blushing even more intensely now.

"Well, in that case," he got up off of her. "How about I help you out? Sorry for pouncing on you like that." he apologized, rubbing the back of his head nervously while grinning.

"Alright." Haku smiled back and showed him the herbs she needed.

Danny spent a lot of time helping her pick the herbs. He found that he enjoyed her company, and silently wished she wouldn't have to leave. "I didn't catch your name, by the way."

"My name is Haku. What is yours?" she asked.

"I'm Danny Fenton." he answered.

"Are you a ninja?" she stopped picking herbs and looked at him, mesmerized by his cool gaze. "I noticed that headband you're wearing."

"That's right." he stopped as well and turned to face her. "I've been training out here."

"Does that mean you're out here training for something dangerous?" She looked to the ground a little.

"I'm just trying to get stronger." he muttered, blushing a little.

"You seem strong already. Isn't that enough?" she asked.

Danny looked up at her again with intense determination in his gaze. "No. It's not."

"Why is that?" she asked.

"So that I can protect the people who are important to me. And so that I have the strength to help anyone who may need me. Even if I don't necessarily like that person very much. I'll protect them with everything I have." he declared.

"Then you must be truly strong." she smiled.

"What do you mean?" he tilted his head a little.

"I believe that those who have someone precious to protect are truly strong."

Danny thought for a moment. "I guess you're right."

Haku grabbed her basket and stood up. "I have to go now. We'll meet again some time."

"W- wait." Danny stuttered a little bit.

Haku turned to him. "What is it?" she asked.

"You should come back again tomorrow to this spot. I'd like to talk to you again"

Haku looked at him in surprise. "I'd definitely like that."

Danny smiled as he watched her walk away,.

He didn't even notice the time going by, or Naruto entering the clearing with his clone. He was in a bit of a daze.

"Danny!" Naruto screamed into his ear, causing him to break out of his trance and fall back onto the ground.

"Ow!" Danny held his ear in pain. "What was that for?!"

"I've been trying to get your attention for the last ten minutes and you just kept staring at me like an idiot." Naruto crossed his arms. "You're the one that wanted me to come talk to you."

"Oh. Sorry about that." Danny shook his head a bit. His clone dispersed.

"So what did you want?" Naruto asked impatiently.

Danny sighed. "I decided to tell you the truth. Everything you've wondered about me until now."

"Didn't you already do that yesterday?" Naruto snapped at him.

"No." Danny answered honestly.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

Danny rubbed the back of his head. "The biggest part was a lie."

"What part?" Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"It's about me and Phantom." he looked down.

"What about him?"

"Well... I didn't actually summon him. You see... Phantom and I... we are... the same person." he finally revealed.

Naruto was silent for a few moments. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Danny looked a bit ashamed. "Because I was scared. When I first came here... it was right after my parents basically banished me from my home town. Though they didn't know who I really was. They thought they were saving the town from the evil ghost boy. But... all the evil actions I'd ever done... were either accidents... or events that took place while I was under someone else's control. Many times over I was framed for things I never did. I was hunted down by countless groups of ghost hunters, which included my own parents. When I came here, all of that ended. Nobody knew who I was. And there was no ghost problem so I didn't need to turn into Phantom. I wasn't being chased all the time. I could learn to fight without relying on my other half. I had no idea who to trust. Even a girl I once dated in highschool was trying to tear me apart. Then she got hold of.. my clone. A little girl named Danielle. Even though she discovered that Dani was half human, that wasn't enough for her. She took Dani to an evil man to be destroyed, believing she was doing the right thing. All to get back at me for an accident I never meant to cause. I never meant to hurt you either, Naruto. I just wanted a little time to feel just the slightest bit normal. I know that isn't fair. I know that you've been through just as much if not more than I have. I'm so sorry. I understand if you can't forgive me..." he stared at the ground.

There was silence between the two for a painful length of time. Though, finally, Naruto walked over and punched him in the chest hard enough to send him to the ground. "You asshole. Of course I forgive you. You're like a brother to me after all. Though I'm not particularly happy that you didn't trust me. I mean. Look who you're talking to. I have a big nine tailed demon FOX sealed inside my gut. You really thought I of all people would judge you for being half ghost? That's a bit insulting. But I'm glad you finally decided to tell me." Naruto grinned at him.

Danny laughed a bit. "I guess you're right. How can I make this up to you?"

"Well for starters. You can start going all out on me in sparring. I know you can't 'teach' me anything else. But we can still train together. Don't you dare go easy on me!" Naruto shouted.

"Alright. I guess I can do that." Danny grinned and shook hands with his 'brother'.

"One question though." Naruto stopped him.

"What is it?" Danny asked.

"When are you going to tell the others? You know they're going to find out eventually." Naruto asked seriously.

"I know. I'll tell them when I'm ready. I promise." Danny smiled reassuringly. Though Naruto wasn't convinced.

* * *

Several hours passed and the rest of the team was beginning to wonder where Naruto and Danny were.

"Geez. Where are those two?" Sakura complained as she ate.

"Two boys out alone in the forest? For all we know they could be dead..." Tsunami worried.

"I wouldn't worry about it. I doubt there's much that could take on those two."

Sasuke got up and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Sakura asked.

"I'm going for a walk." he told her before walking out.

* * *

By now the clearing Danny had created was practically destroyed as he sparred against Naruto. He was currently standing on top of one of the higher tree branches.

Naruto ran up to the top and decided to try his newest jutsu. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" he shouted, sending a huge gust of wind at the halfa.

Danny quickly got out of the way and darted down the tree. He caught Naruto off guard and hit him in the face with a nasty punch.

Naruto yelped as he was launched from the tree and hit the ground roughly.

He was surprised as he noticed a figure walking up to them. "Sasuke? What do you want?" he asked.

"I came to train. And the others were wondering where you both were..." he muttered. He glanced at Danny as he hopped to the ground.

"Well. Go train on your own." Naruto huffed.

"Actually. Why don't you train with us. Free for all. There will be some tree climbing involved. You up for it? " Danny challenged.

"Sounds fun. Alright." Sasuke nodded. He wouldn't pass up a chance to get stronger. And even he couldn't deny that Danny was a pretty good teacher.

* * *

After a long while, Sakura and Kakashi decided to go look for their missing team mates. They walked out into the forest with Sakura calling for the three.

"Knowing them they could be anywhere. I wonder where they are..." Sakura muttered.

Their eyes widened as they heard the sound of combat, and ran to see what was going on, fearing the worst for their comrades. However, what they saw wasn't exactly what they were expecting.

Naruto and Sasuke had teamed up in an attempt to take on Danny, who had turned out to be too much for either one of them to take on alone. Danny was twisting and turning a bit unnaturally to avoid punches from Naruto and his clone while Sasuke went through seals.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" Sasuke cried and blew a stream of fire at the halfa.

However, once the smoke cleared, there was nobody there. His eyes widened as he heard the sound of Danny's voice.

"Ice style: Ice trap jutsu!"

Sasuke looked down and found he was already coated in ice. He struggled to move, and found that he was completely stuck.

Danny walked over to him with a grin. "I win again, Sasuke. Better luck next time."

Sasuke glared at him, but then smirked.

"What?" Danny asked, but was too late as Naruto suddenly dropped down and stabbed him in the back with a kunai. He was a bit disappointed however when he saw that 'Danny' had been yet another Ice Clone.

"Dammit!" Naruto cursed.

"Way to go, twerp." Sasuke sighed.

They were interrupted as Sakura and Kakashi walked over. "What's going on here?"

Danny jumped out from where he'd been hiding and released Sasuke from the ice. "We've been sparring. We incorporated the tree climbing exercise into it to make things a bit interesting, and to give Sasuke some practice using it while in an intense situation. Sasuke and Naruto eventually teamed up against me to try to take me down."

"Not bad. Working on chakra control while also strengthening teamwork. I'm impressed, Danny." Kakashi praised.

"It wasn't all my idea. Naruto should get some credit too." Danny glanced at the blonde with a smile.

"Hey, Sakura. Why don't you join us?" Naruto asked.

"Why would I do that?!" She yelled at him.

"Because, to be blunt Sakura, while you're indeed intelligent, and have great chakra control... you're really weak. Just intelligence alone isn't going to be able to keep you alive. You need to be able to have the strength to back it up." Danny stated with a deadpan expression.

"Why you!" Sakura prepared to hit him.

"He's right, Sakura. You stay here and train with them. A little extra training won't hurt you." Kakashi ordered.

Danny grinned. "Don't worry. It won't be that bad."

Sakura groaned. "Why have I got a bad feeling about this?"

"Behave, you four." Kakashi waved and left them to their devices.

* * *

By the time they started heading back, Sakura was almost completely covered in bruises. Danny had not gone easy on her like she had thought he would. No. She still remembered what he had said. 'Just because you're a girl doesn't mean I'll treat you any different from the other two. Get used to it.'

The group walked inside, causing Tsunami and Kakashi, who were in the room, to look up at them.

"Geez, Danny. Were you training them, or using them as your own personal punching bags?" the silver haired jonin commented.

"It isn't my fault she bruises like a banana. I didn't treat her any different than I treated Naruto back when I first started training him. Just because he was behind didn't mean I went easy on him." Danny shrugged. Naruto snickered a little.

"Kakashi-sensei please don't let him take control of our training again." Sakura begged.

Sasuke didn't say anything. Though he too was sporting some bruising. Of the three of them, Naruto was the one with the least amount of bruises. Though, unknown to them, this was mostly because of the Kyuubi healing him.

"Sorry, Sakura. But it looks like he did his job rather well. I'll have to assign him to handle training more often if this is how tough he is on the rest of you. And he comes up with some pretty interesting ideas for training too. I hadn't thought of incorporating tree climbing into a sparring exercise. So, he's prepared you even more for the battle than I would have thought to have done." Kakashi gave her an innocent smile.

Sakura lowered her head miserably. "Why me?" she whined.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Here." he walked over and rested his palm just above her bruised arm. It glowed a little green as he used medical ninjutsu to start healing the bruising.

"I didn't know you could use medical ninjutsu, Danny." Kakashi commented, surprised.

"I asked one of the doctors to teach me how since Naruto got hurt pretty frequently in training and the hospital refused to admit him. Since they had no idea we were friends at the time, they gladly helped me learn." he explained.

"I see." Kakashi gave him an eye smile, though silently he filed that information away to speak with the Hokage about later. "We don't have time for any more training for now however. Starting tomorrow you're all body guards for Tazuna."

Finally, Tsunami started setting out food and called the rest of the family to eat.

They finished eating after a short time, and the group decided to talk at the table.

"In a few days, the bridge will be finished. I have you to thank for that." Tazuna told them.

Tsunami was collecting dishes. "You've all done great but you've still got to be careful."

"I've been meaning to ask you this but I haven't had the chance until now. Why did you stay and protect me even after you found out I lied to bring you here?" Tazuna asked.

Kakashi folded his hands and lowered his head a bit. "Those who stray from the path of justice have no courage. But under the wing of a strong leader, cowardice cannot survive."

"Huh?" Tsunami stared at him.

Kakashi looked up at her and Tazuna. "That was a quote from the first Hokage."

Inari was staring at them. And tears were starting to run down the sides of his face. "But why?"

Naruto looked up from where he'd been resting his head on the table. "Huh? What'd you say?"

Inari stood up and slammed his hands down on the table. "All this stupid training is just a waste of time! Gato's got a whole army. They'll beat you down and they'll destroy you! These cool things you all say. They don't mean anything! No matter what you do. The strong always win and the weak always lose."

Naruto just put his head back down. "Just speak for yourself. It won't be like that for me, you got that?" he snapped.

"Why don't you be quiet? Just looking at you makes me sick! You don't know anything about this country! You're just butting in! You don't know what it's like to suffer be treated like dirt!" Inari shouted.

Naruto looked up at him darkly. "Listen to yourself whining and complaining. Like some sorry little victim."

Inari gasped, not expecting that.

"You can whimper all day for all I care. You're nothing but a coward." Naruto told him harshly and glared at him angrily.

"Naruto! You went too far" Sakura shouted. But Danny put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head darkly.

Naruto growled and stood up, going to walk away.

"Naruto?" she asked.

Naruto ignored her and left.

Inari was still crying.

He ran outside and sat on the pier.

Kakashi got up and followed him. "Can I talk to you?" he asked calmly.

Inari didn't say anything.

Kakashi sat down beside him. "Naruto can be a little... Harsh... sometimes. But he doesn't hate you. Your grandfather told us what happened. To your father. You probably don't know this. But. Naruto also grew up without a father. In fact, he never knew either of his parents. And he didn't have a single friend in our village."

Inari looked up at him in surprise. "Huh?"

"Still. I've never seen him cry, sulk, or give up. He's always eager to jump in. He wants to be respected. That's.. his dream. And he'll put his life on the line for that. In a heartbeat. My guess is... he just got tired of crying. And decided to do something about it. Even though he's young and still learning, he knows what it means to be strong. Like your father. I think he knows better than any of us what you're going through. As cruel as it sounded, he's probably told himself that a thousand times." Kakashi told him.

Inari turned and looked out at the ocean. Silent.


	8. Chapter 8

I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto

* * *

The day after that, Danny went out on his own again to the field, hoping to see Haku again.

He looked around a little. Nobody was there. He let out a longing sigh. 'Damn. I guess she didn't want to visit again after all...'

He let himself fall back into the grass, letting the breeze rustle his hair.

"Once again I find you laying in the grass. Is this how we're always going to meet?" asked a feminine voice.

Danny turned his head. It was Haku. She was there with her basket again, smiling at him. "Hehe. I was beginning to think I wouldn't see you again. So... I just decided to enjoy the breeze for a little while before I started training again."

She set her basket down and sat beside him. "It is nice, I will admit."

"It reminds me of someone I used to be close to. A wonderful friend who always had my back. Though we had our rough patches. I haven't seen or heard from her since becoming a ninja."

She gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry. Maybe you'll see her again."

Danny shook his head. "I'm not so sure I will. My parents forced me out of the town because of my abilities. They then erected a barrier to keep me and others like me out."

Haku blinked at him. Maybe they weren't so different. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"There's no need for you to apologize. It isn't your fault."

Danny spent the rest of the day talking with Haku. Getting to know her a little.

* * *

The next day came fairly quickly and team 7 prepared to head to the bridge.

Danny walked over to Kakashi before they could head out. "Sensei. I don't think Tazuna's family should stay here alone. They should find shelter elsewhere and I can leave a clone with them. I've got a bad feeling."

"Good idea. You and Naruto guide them to a safe place and then meet us at the bridge." Kakashi nodded and went to tell Tazuna's family the plan.

"Right." Danny nodded and went to get Naruto. He explained to the blonde what they were going to do.

Once Tsunami and Inari were ready, Danny led the way into town while Naruto guarded their rear. They moved as quickly as they could.

"Any ideas on a safe place?" Danny asked.

"I have a friend in town that has a small storage shelter underground. I'm sure he would let us stay there. It's not that far from the bridge." Tsunami told him.

Danny smiled. "That will work. Since it's close to the bridge I'll be able to leave a few clones with you instead of just one. Just tell me where to go."

Tsunami obliged and began leading him to the house when they were stopped by Gato's two right hand men.

"Looks like they brought you right to us." The one with silver hair mocked. He had purple eye make up and reminded Danny a little too much of Freakshow. The other guy was a large brute with tan skin and dark brown hair. He had scars covering his body and an eye patch over his right eye.

Danny narrowed his eyes and Naruto quickly came to stand beside him. "And what makes you think we'll just hand them over?"

The silver haired one smirk. "Lets get em!"

The two charged Danny and Naruto a bit recklessly.

Naruto and Danny glanced at each other before Danny went through hand signs. "Ice Style: Ice trap Jutsu."

Ice sped across the ground and froze them in place. Danny walked over to them. "Tell me everything you know." he held his sword at their throats.

The silver haired one broke first. "G- gato sent us to use Tsunami as a hostage so that you nin would all give up. But we were going to let you all brawl it out first. Then we were going to off you, Zabuza, and his apprentice." he stuttered out.

Danny narrowed his eyes. "I see. Thanks for the information." he smirked and then slit their throats.

Naruto's eyes widened. "You were just going to kill them anyways?!"

"Yes. That way they can't come back to attack us again later." Danny said.

"That was awesome!" Inari shouted, causing them both to look back at him. "You're like real ninjas!"

"We are real ninjas!" Naruto exclaimed. The two then started laughing. Danny just shook his head while Tsunami sighed in relief.

"We should get going before they send anyone else." Danny cut in after letting them laugh for a moment.

"Right." Tsunami nodded.

They were led to the house they needed, where Tsunami's friend let them inside. Danny created two Ice Clones to stay with her before waving goodbye.

Naruto grabbed Danny's arm. "Lets hurry now!"

"Yea!" Danny agreed and began racing Naruto to the top of the bridge.

* * *

What they saw there was Sasuke trapped in a dome of ice with a person darting from mirror to mirror while throwing senbon needles. He was looking badly hurt, with needles sticking out of him like a pin cushion. Kakashi was caught in a stalemate against Zabuza. Sakura threw a kunai at the dome, only for the person to come out of the mirror and catch it and smirk at Sasuke.

"Naruto. Lets go. Sasuke needs our help." Danny ordered.

Naruto pulled out two shuriken and threw them. They hit the person dead on and knocked her from the mirror.

'It's the tracker from before.' Danny grinned. 'And she's an Ice User like me. This will be fun.' "Get Sasuke out. I'll handle the rest."

Naruto rushed forward and pulled Sasuke out while the tracker was distracted. He took the Uchiha over to Sakura to help guard Tazuna.

"You won't escape." She went to move the mirrors, only for Danny to come up behind her and hit her in the side with a nasty kick, knocking her away from the mirrors.

She cursed and ran towards him with a senbon needle. Danny blocked it with a kunai and hit her in the stomach with his knee, knocking the wind out of her.

She slowly got to her feet. "I don't want to fight you." she coughed out.

"That's perfect, because I don't want to fight you either. I just needed to get you away from my friends before you could kill them. We need to stop this battle right now." Danny told her.

"We have a mission to carry out. We will not stop until it is complete." Haku stood shakily.

'It's her. I hope she'll listen to me.' "Please listen! I just caught Gato's two right hand men and they told me everything. They're planning to have us fight until we're worn out and then they're going to have not only us but you killed! Gato doesn't intend to pay you!" he shouted.

Haku and Zabuza both frozen when they heard that, and Kakashi stopped as well.

They all turned as they heard clapping at the other end of the bridge. Gato was walking toward them with a giant mob. "Looks like you failed your mission. So much for the so called demon of the mist. More like baby of the mist." he laughed. "Now that you're all worn out, I can have these guys take you all out for a fraction of the price. But do be sure to take some of them out. Then I'll have to pay even less."

The mob rushed the shinobi with weapons at the ready.

Danny looked up at Zabuza. "I have this new move I've been wanting to test out. Do you mind?"

"Go right ahead." he shrugged uncaringly.

Danny smirked and drew his sword. He pushed some of his chakra and ghost energy into the blade, causing a shrill sound to fill the air. The mob stopped and looked around to see where the noise was coming from. "Lost Kenjutsu Style: Ice Wave!" he swung the sword in a wide arc, causing a huge wave of ice to form and slam into the mob. Most of them were sent flying over the edge, though Gato had managed to hang on. Danny found himself exhausted by the end of it. "That took more energy than I thought it would." he panted.

"Not bad, kid. That was impressive." Zabuza smirked before walking over to Gato and picking him up by the throat.

"W- what do you want? I- I'll give you anything! Just please spare my life!" he begged pitifully.

Zabuza smirked "Give me access to your bank account."

Gato nodded and quickly handed him a card.

"Thank you." Zabuza raised his sword.

"Wait wait wait wait!" the man cried. Zabuza brought his sword down and slashed the man in half before dropping the corpse into the water.

"That was great..." Danny gave him a thumbs up before falling backwards and hitting the stone with a loud smack. He was out cold. The rest of team 7 all had sweat drops.

"Is he alright?" Haku asked, a little worried.

Naruto knelt down and checked Danny's pulse. "Yea. I think he put the wrong combination of energy into that attack. That's happened every time he's practiced it on his own too."

Sasuke stood up finally and walked over. Sakura had peen carefully pulling the senbon needles out of him. 'Damn. I should be the one with that kind of power. I need it to take care of... him.'

"So it's all over now?" Tazuna asked a bit hesitantly.

Kakashi nodded. "Yea. You shouldn't have any more trouble now. All you have left to do is finish this bridge and then we can head home."

Zabuza looked at Haku. "You should go with them."

Haku looked up at him in surprise. "Why? What about you?"

"I'll be fine. Besides. You've been chatting away about that boy since we came here. It's time you did something for yourself. You won't be able to focus on combat with your mind clouded by him."

Haku jumped up and hugged him. "Thank you."

Zabuza just patted her head awkwardly. "Yea. You're welcome. Now. Go with them."

Haku smiled and ran after the leaf nin.

* * *

Danny was put on bed-rest for the remainder of their time in wave, by order of Kakashi. Haku had decided to stay with him to keep him company. Meanwhile Sasuke and Naruto would often go out training together when they weren't guarding Tazuna at the bridge. Sakura had been asking Haku questions about her senbon needles. Zabuza had already left, telling them he had some things to take care of. So all in all things had been going smoothly.

Danny sighed from his place on the floor as he looked up at Haku, sitting up. "Can I get up now?"

Haku glared at him and put her hand on his chest, pushing him back down. "No. You need to rest."

"I'm fine!" Danny protested.

"Uh huh. That's why you passed out the other day, right? You're not moving until it's time to go back." she said firmly.

"Dammit." Danny sighed, giving up.

Naruto walked into the room. "About time you woke up. We've all been worried."

Haku looked up. "He's been trying to run away all morning."

Naruto laughed. "Sounds about right. He's never been good about staying put in bed. Not that I'm really any better."

Danny glared at him. "What did you want, Naruto."

Naruto crossed his arms. "I came to tell you that the bridge is finished. We're heading back today."

"Yes!" Danny jumped out of the blankets. "I'm ready to go right now!"

* * *

Finally they were ready to leave. Team 7 and Haku all gathered on the bridge to say goodbye. Tazuna's family were all bidding them good luck on their journey. Inari ran over and hugged Naruto, crying.

They finally crossed over and started on their way back home.

* * *

Team 7 made it back to Konoha after a few short days. Along the way they decided that Haku would move in with Naruto and Danny. They would just need to talk to the Hokage about their living arrangements.

"Kakashi-sensei! I can see the gates!" Sakura yelled.

Danny was a ways behind them. Suddenly though, a blue wisp flew from his mouth. He covered his mouth quickly before the others could see and froze in place.

When she noticed he had stopped, Haku turned to face Danny. "What's wrong?"

The rest of the group noticed and stopped as well, staring at him strangely.

Danny quickly moved back away from the group as a small black and white blur slammed into his stomach and knocked him into a nearby tree. He let out a yelp as he crashed. The rest of the team was instantly on guard. What they saw however, was not what they expect.

Danny was against the tree, a little dazed. On top of him was a small girl with black hair that was styled in a similar fashion to his own, though it was longer and pulled back into a pony tail. She had on a black sweater and pants with white boots and finger-less gloves. She looked to be about four or so years old. Though the biggest shock was the words that came out of her mouth. "Daddy! I finally found you!"


	9. Chapter 9

I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto

* * *

Danny was staring at the little girl in his arms in shock, while the rest of his team was waiting for an explanation.

"Did she just call you 'daddy'?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Danny. Explain. Now." Kakashi ordered.

Danny sighed. "Everyone, this is Danielle. Though, like me, she goes by a nickname, Dani. Before I came here, I had an enemy that wanted to have me as his son and my mother as his wife. Time and time again, I refused. So. He started trying to clone me. All the attempts failed. Except for one. Dani was that one. The only thing was that she was younger, slightly unstable, and a girl. Eventually I managed to get her stabilized and she went off on her own. What I don't know is what she's doing here." he then looked down at her.

Dani looked up. "I missed you really bad so Tucker agreed to go to the ghost zone with me to talk to Clockwork and where you went. Clockwork told us what happened to you and said we could come too. He made me a lot younger for some reason."

Danny's eyes widened. "Sam and Tucker are here?"

"Yea! Well. Tucker is. Sam is... Well... Tucker is talking to the old village leader. The Hokage. They said I could wait outside. But I really wanted to find you so I left." she chirped.

Danny poked her cheek. "If you're going to become a ninja, you'll need to learn how to follow instruction." he said, getting up with her in his arms.

Haku was looking at him curiously. "Who are Sam and Tucker?"

Danny turned to her. "Tucker is my oldest friend. He's a bit of a technogeek. Sam is... she was... a girl I had a crush on. A long time ago. She's the one I told you about."

Haku nodded after a moment. "I see."

"Lets just go report to the Hokage." Danny said, anxious to see his old friends.

* * *

As they walked towards the Hokage tower, Danny was talking to his 'daughter'. They knocked on the door and were told to come in.

Team 7 walked inside and Danny's eyes widened as his gaze caught that of his oldest friend.

The two stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity.

"Dude, it's been ages!" Tucker smiled, having not stepped forward.

In a bit of a daze, Danny grinned and nodded.

"Ahem." a voice interrupted.

Danny looked over at the Hokage. "Daniel-san. You've proven yourself to be a worthy asset to our village. As such I expect you'll introduce your friend to the village well. Once your team has filed their report, I would like to speak with you and Naruto privately."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Danny bowed slightly in respect. Tucker blinked in surprise. He wasn't used to Danny acting so formal.

Team 7 filed their report and then left. Haku, and the others all waited outside. Naruto stayed with Danny.

"What is it?" the Hokage asked.

"It's about our current living arrangement." Naruto said. "It's already a tad cramped with just me and Danny. But add on Haku, Dani, and Tucker, and we'll just be packed in like sardines."

"Well. There is a place you can have. It's actually not far from your training ground that you fixed up. You know that old house a little to the south of it?" The Hokage asked.

Danny and Naruto nodded.

"That is the place I will give you. It will need some fixing up. But I'm sure it's nothing you can't handle. And the plot of land that comes with it is plenty large." The Hokage smiled, handing over the key to Naruto.

"What's the down payment?" Danny asked, since he usually ended up carrying more money with him than Naruto.

"Since it'll need so much work, there is none." The Hokage told him. "It's been abandoned for some time."

"Thanks." Naruto smiled.

"By the way, will you have Dani enroll in the academy? Tucker has registered the girl as your daughter." The Hokage asked.

"Yes, sir. I most definitely will have her enrolled."

"Then fill these out and return them to my desk by next week." The Hokage handed him a few documents. "You're dismissed."

The two bowed and headed out of the room to join their friends.

Haku and Dani were both looking at him curiously while Tucker was drowning out their surroundings with earbuds, and therefore didn't hear them walk out.

Danny walked over and pulled his friend's earbuds out. "Hey. We're done. I'm going to have a clone take you and Haku to the new place."

"Clone?" Tucker asked in confusion.

Danny put his hand in a single seal and made an ice clone, much to the shock of his old friend. He looked at the clone. "Go with Haku and Tucker. Show them where the place is." he said. Naruto handed the key to the clone.

Tucker was about to protest but the clone pushed him away. Haku followed them without protest.

Danny picked his daughter up and put her on his shoulders. "Race you to the apartment, Naruto!" he shouted and took off running. Dani cheered in delight as she clung to Danny's shoulders tightly.

"Oh you're on!" Naruto shouted back and started running as well,.

* * *

-With the Clone-

The clone led the small group down the quickest route to the house. The house was white with three floors. At the front was a small porch where the upper floors were held up by four white pillars. Inside were two large master bedrooms big enough to fit several people, and then several smaller guest bedrooms. There was also a basement and storage room. Paint was peeling all over the house, and there were places where the wood was damaged from years of disrepair.

Outside was a massive 4000 acre plot of land. There was broken down fencing that bordered it, and bits of farmland that had been torn up over the years. Near the front of the house was a small pond with a stream that connected it to the river that ran through the village.

"This is much bigger than I expected." Tucker commented. He was still in a bit of shock at how much Danny had changed.

The clone stepped out of the house, having been inspecting it. "The house should take about six hours to have it livable and two days to have it completely repaired. It'll need to having plumbing and electricity installed, new furniture, a new paint job, some spots in the wood work replaced, and it should good to go."

"That's not bad. Looking at its beat up exterior, I was expecting it to be worse." Tucker commented.

They were interrupted as the real Danny arrived with Naruto and Dani. The Ice Clone dispelled, giving all the information to Danny. "Hmm. Time to get to work I guess. Naruto?"

Naruto nodded with a grin, and put his hands in a familiar sign. "MULTI-SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" A huge cloud of smoke filled the clearing and about 50 Shadow Clones stepped out of it.

"My turn. Multi-Ice Clone Jutsu!" Danny shouted and made about 20 of his own clones.

"You've got to catch me up on everything later, dude." Tucker said while gawking.

"I know, I know. Once we have the house fixed up I'll explain everything to all of you. For now I need to focus on making sure we have a place to sleep tonight. So with that in mind, lets get to work." Danny ordered, before turning to the clones and giving all of them several jobs to do.

* * *

Two days later the house was already completely repaired. Danny had gone out and bought new furniture. It didn't take the small group very long to settle in either. Danny was currently sitting at the new table with a mug of coffee, filling out the documents to have Dani enter the academy.

Haku, Tucker, and Naruto walked into the room and sat down.

"Do you have time, Danny?" Tucker asked.

Danny looked up. He was nearly finished with the documents. He set them to the side. "Yea. What do you need?"

"You said you would explain everything once the house was fixed." Tucker reminded.

"Alright. What would you like to know first?"

Haku was the first to speak. "I've heard Tucker mention something about ghost powers. And I remember a strange being named Phantom beating Zabuza with little trouble. Start with that."

"Ah. Yea I guess you deserve to know that much. Phantom isn't a separate person. He and I are the same person. I'm a human-ghost hybrid." Danny revealed.

"How is something like that possible? Ghosts cannot mate with humans can they?" she asked

Danny laughed a bit. "No. A normal ghost cannot mate with a human. And I was originally human to begin with."

Haku tilted her head.

"When I was still living in the Americas, my parents were inventors. They were obsessed with everything ghost. One day, they built a ghost portal down in the basement. Though, when they tried to show it off to me, it didn't work. Being all disappointed, they left. So I decided to show it off to Sam and Tucker. The thing wasn't working. I saw no harm in it. Then, however, Sam convinced me to go inside and try to fix it. It would make my parents very happy if I could make it work. So, I put on a hazmat suit and stepped inside. It was completely dark. I had my hand against the wall since I couldn't see anything. In hindsight, I probably should've just grabbed a flashlight. Anyways. I felt something push down under my hand as I got further in. My parents, in a complete lack of foresight, had put the 'on' button inside the portal. I had no time to react. The machine turned on with me inside of it and I was electrocuted with several volts of electricity. The accident completely altered my genetics, infusing them with ectoplasm. And it gave me the ability to turn back and forth between what you see now, and Phantom." Danny explained.

"Is that how you're able to use the Ice Release as well?" Haku asked.

Danny nodded. "Yea. As a ghost, I have an ice core. This translated into my human half, giving me the ability to use the Ice Release."

"That makes sense."

"Next question."

Tucker asked a question now. "Do you plan to go back to Amity eventually?"

"No. This is my home now. Amity Park doesn't need me anymore anyways. Anyone who wishes to see me can come visit me here." Danny said bluntly.

"Are you going to make a new ghost portal?" he asked.

Danny nodded. "Yea. That was my plan. I'm going to do to our basement here what my parents did to the basement back home. I downloaded all the schematics for my parents inventions a few months before I left. You could say I expected what happened. I'll need some help from you for it."

"Now I have some questions. How is Jaz and where is Sam?"

Tucker's smile broke at that question, worrying Danny. "Jaz is alright. She misses you terribly and has disowned your parents. I left her a note telling her how to get here. She had been away on a job trip when we left. As for Sam...," Tucker stared at the table and closed his eyes. "She's... She's gone."

Danny felt his heart shatter. "W- what do you mean she's gone?"

Tucker stared into Danny's eyes sadly. "She's dead, Danny."

Danny choked back a sob. He felt like someone was trying to rip his heart straight from his chest. He was shaking pretty badly. "H- how?"

Tucker shrugged. "I just... I found her in her garden one afternoon. There were purple and pink blotches all over her skin. She'd been collecting poisonous ghost zone plants. I think she got sick from being around them all the time. By the time I got to her she wasn't breathing anymore."

Danny laid his head down on the table. Naruto frowned. He'd never seen Danny this upset before. He could tell the black haired teen was crying due to his shoulders visibly shaking.

Tucker frowned and left the room, deciding Danny would need time alone to process this.

Haku and Naruto however both moved close to him to comfort him.

* * *

The next few weeks went by smoothly. Dani entered the academy. Tucker got a job in technology, working as an inventor. Danny had somewhat recovered from the news of Sam, and started working on a garden as a way to remember her. Haku had decided not to re-enter the field of combat and instead got a job as an instructor at the academy, as she showed to have the skill level of a chunin during evaluation, and was thus given the rank. Team 7 was once again given several D ranked missions, much to the annoyance of Naruto and Sasuke. Danny was mostly oblivious, as he had been since receiving the news of Sam. The entire team was worried about how he'd been acting.

Kakashi would often have the team go with Danny to his training field when he was too busy to continue their training himself. He'd spoken to the Hokage to simply have their team transferred to Danny's training ground. Sometimes Haku would join them in their sparring.

Haku found herself becoming a sort of surrogate mother towards Dani. As such, she had started teaching the girl how to use her own Ice Release, and how to use senbon needles. Since Dani was much smaller and not as physically powerful as Danny was, Haku had started teaching her how to use the same style she did, focusing on agility rather than strength.

* * *

Team 7 was currently at the training ground. Kakashi was supervising them.

Naruto and Sasuke were currently working on a combination attack that Danny had suggested to them.

"Again." Kakashi said.

Naruto and Sasuke both started going through hand-signs.

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" Sasuke cried, letting lose a blast of flames.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough Jutsu!" Naruto cried at the same time. The wind amplified the flames.

Sakura clapped. "That's great, Sasuke!"

"I think that's enough for today." Kakashi said as a hawk flew overhead and let out one of its cries. "I'll see you all later." he then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke turned to Danny. "I swear. If it wasn't for you helping us we'd never get anything done. We've learned more from you than we have from our sensei."

Danny blushed a bit and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "It's not that big a deal. Kakashi-sensei just has a lot of other things to worry about so he lets me take over."

Sasuke gave him a hard stare before turning to leave.

"Hey. Just because Kakashi said we were done doesn't mean we can't train some more on our own." Naruto chimed in.

Sasuke turned to him. "I guess." he looked over at Danny. "Any more ideas in mind? Your idea to have Naruto's wind jutsu amplify my fire jutsu was pretty good."

"Well. Actually something I've been thinking of has nothing to do with jutsu. Though I think it would help Sakura immensely." Danny told him.

This had Sasuke and Sakura interested. "What is it?"

"Something I already do, to a degree. But I think Sakura has the potential to do it better." he said.

"Which is?"

"Using chakra control to focus your chakra at a single point to amplify your strikes. Like Naruto, I have a lot of chakra alongside my special energy. This means that for us, chakra control is much more difficult than it is for someone with less chakra." Danny said.

Their eyes widened. "That's a really good idea."

"Also, I just had these come in the other day. I ordered them for the whole team." Danny said, and pulled out some chakra blades. He tossed a set to everyone.

"Thanks!" they all said.

"Heh. This is nothing compared to the weapons we will have available to us in a few years. With Tucker and I working together, this team will be decked out in the highest tech gear the ninja world has ever seen. Since you guys get first pickings." Danny smiled.

They were then interrupted by a square 'rock' sneaking up on them.

Naruto looked down at it. His right eye twitched. "Konohamaru. Rocks aren't square. It's completely obvious."

"You saw through my camouflage again! You're slick, boss. Just what I'd expect from my greatest rival." a voice said. Suddenly the box exploded and three kids were revealed. They all were on the ground coughing.

"I think we used a little too much gun powder you guys." said the one in the middle. The boy on the left had short brown hair and circular glasses. The girl on the right had bright red hair that was up in a 'V' like shape. The boy in the middle had spiky brown hair. All three of them were wearing goggles like Naruto used to.

They all looked up at Naruto.

The girl stood up. "I'm Moegi. The sassiest kunoichi in pre-school. Check me out!"

The boy on the left stood up next. "I love algebra call me Udon."

The boy in the middle stood up last. "And I'm the #1 ninja in the village. Konohamaru! And when we're all together. We're the Konohamaru Corps!" they struck a pose.

Naruto had a deadpan expression and Danny had an eyebrow raised.

"Did you want something?" Naruto asked.

"He's just trying to be cool." Konohamaru said to Udon.

The girl stepped forward. "You know what we want! Are you busy now?"

"I guess not." Naruto shrugged. "Why?"

"You promised you would play ninja with us today, remember?" Konohamaru shouted.

"A ninja playing ninja? That is 'so' twisted." Sakura said gloomily.

Naruto turned to face her. "Uh. Hey, Sakura."

"Hey boss. Who are they anyways?" Konohamaru asked.

"These are my teammates, Danny, Sakura, and Sasuke." Naruto introduced.

"Hello." Danny smiled and raised a hand in greeting.

Moegi blushed a little as she looked at Danny and Sasuke. 'They're both so handsome!'

Danny thought for a moment, before looking at Naruto. "You have three little academy kids following you around curious about you. You could probably teach them some actual ninja skills rather than 'playing' ninja. They could use the practice anyways. Heck. Dani could join you. Actually." he looked up towards the trees. "Dani, stop spying and come down here!"

Dani giggled and jumped down towards them. "Hi! I'm Dani Fenton!" she introduced, holding a hand out to Konohamaru. She was a few years younger than them, but that didn't mean they couldn't be friends. Besides. Mentally, she didn't feel 4. She felt closer to their age.

"You stay with Naruto?" Konohamaru asked. He'd already heard about Naruto living with Danny.

"Uh huh." she smiled.

"Cool! Do you know any cool ninja techniques? I bet you do if you live with the boss!" Udon said.

Dani nodded. "Yea, I do! Momma Haku and Daddy teach me how to use ninja techniques."

Moegi beamed. "Konohamaru! Lets bring her into the group!"

Konohamaru seemed to be in agreement. "Dani Fenton. Will you join the Konohamaru Corps?" he asked.

"What do you do?" Dani asked.

"We look up to the boss but we also pledge to beat him in a ninja battle one day." Konohamaru explained.

"I'll join you if you add Daddy to that list." Dani grinned.

"Deal!" Konohamaru grinned back and shook her hand.

Danny and Naruto were chuckling at their antics. They knew that with Dani on the team, there would likely be a competition for the spot of leader. The four kids then ran off.

Suddenly, something struck Danny and blue lines appeared down his face. "Oh... why do I suddenly have a really bad feeling about this...?"

Naruto patted his back. "Don't worry Danny. The only thing you have to worry about is Dani and Konohamaru possibly starting to like each other and getting together in the future."

Danny's expression only worsened at that, causing the blonde to laugh.

Sakura and Sasuke had sweat drops as they watched their team mates. Deciding that they likely wouldn't get anything else done that day, they parted ways.

* * *

-With Dani POV-

Dani giggled as she ran with the Konohamaru Corps. It made her happy to finally have some friends in the village. And if she managed to graduate early she would possibly be allowed on the same team as them.

They stopped as Konohamaru suddenly ran into a large boy in a black cat suit.

The boy looked down. "Do you need something?" he asked and picked Konohamaru up by his scarf. A blonde girl that was standing beside him frowned.

"Put him down Kankuro. We don't want to cause a scene." she said.

Kankuro smirked. "We still have a while before he shows up. Besides. I need to teach this brat a lesson. I hate the weak."

Dani snarled when she heard that. "Put him down!" she shouted.

Kankuro looked down at her. Moegi and Udon looked terrified. "And just what is a little pipsqueak like you going to do about it?"

Dani's gaze darkened. "Don't call me a pipsqueak."

Kankuro's smirk only grew. "Then come stop me, pipsqueak." his grip on Konohamaru only hardened. He let out a yelp as a senbon needle shot past his hand and drew blood. He yelped and dropped Konohamaru. He looked up in time to see Dani dash forward with unnatural speed and punch him in the nose.

"Why you little brat!" he snarled and grabbed one of her legs, holding her upside-down.

Dani swung around and used her momentum to kick him in the jaw.

The older members of the Konohamaru Corps were watching with wide, frightened eyes.

Kankuro swung Dani down and she hit the concrete with a loud thud.

"Dani!" The Konohamaru Corps shouted.

Kankuro pulled the large mummy like object off his back.

"You're not going to use that are you?! They're a bunch of little kids!" The girl shouted in protest.

"Shut up, Temari. They need to learn a lesson." he snapped. "Even if that lesson is one in death."

Dani's gaze hardened as she pushed herself up. There was a bit of green and red blood on her face.

"That one has green blood. She's a freak!" Kankuro laughed.

Dani's fists clenched, and blood dripped down to the ground. "I won't let you hurt them. And I'll make you pay for calling me that." she spread her legs apart and held her arms out.

"What are you-" Konohamaru started.

"I'M GOING GHOST!" she shouted. A white ring appeared around her waist and divided in half, putting her in a female version of Danny Phantom's hazmat suit, and turning her hair snowy white. Her eyes had turned from ice blue to a blazing ecto-green.

Kankuro stumbled a little. "Little freak! Die!" he shouted and sent the puppet towards her.

Dani flashed forward and phased through the puppet, causing Kankuro to back up. Dani flipped in the air and slammed her heel into Kankuro's chest, sending him flying down the alleyway and crashing into a fence, sending it toppling down in ruins.

Temari could only stare in shock at what she'd just seen.

Dani's hand glowed green and she fired an ecto-blast at Kankuro, hitting him square in the stomach and burning away the cloth there, leaving horrible burns in their place.

Temari was about to grab her fan when a hand grabbed her arm. She turned to see none other than Danny Fenton and Naruto, both of which looked rather pissed.

"Take your team mate and leave, sand-nin." Danny ordered.

"I'm terribly sorry for my brother's actions. I'll take him away now." she stammered and took off towards her brother. 'He was pretty cute. He looked a lot like that little girl though. Does he have those powers too?'

Danny knelt down and looked at Dani. "Dani you're bleeding. Are you okay?"

Dani turned back to her human form and wiped the blood away angrily. "I'm fine." Surely the Konohamaru Corps would think she was freakish now too.

To her shock, the three older kids hugged her instead.

"That was awesome!" Konohamaru shouted.

"How did you do that?" Udon asked.

"You looked so elegant!" Moegi beamed.

Dani tried to say something, but no words came out. Tears started to well up in her eyes, much to their confusion. "You don't think I'm a freak?"

Konohamaru shook his head. "Of course not!"

Dani hugged him and buried her face against his shirt. "Thank you, Konohamaru. Thank you." Fearful tears quickly turned to happy ones.

Konohamaru had his arms up in the air in surprise, having not expected a reaction like that. Finally he smiled and hugged her back. Eventually the rest of the Konohamaru Corps came over and hugged her as well.

Naruto looked at Danny, who had the blue lines coming down his face again. He started laughing again.

He then heard something in the trees and looked up. "Come out. I know you're there."

A teen with short red hair and black paint on his eyes hopped out of the tree in a swirl of sand.

"Who are you?" Danny asked.

"I'm Gaara of the Sand. Those were my siblings and team mates that the girl just sent packing." said the red head.

Danny's eyes narrowed slightly. "I see."

"I'm sorry for their actions. Can I ask what your names are?" he asked, gesturing to him and Dani.

"My name is Danny, and the girl is my daughter, Dani." Danny explained.

Gaara nodded. "I would be interested to see you in the chunin exams." he said before leaving.

Danny shrugged and looked at Dani again who was still being hugged by her new friends. She was still latched onto Konohamaru. He let out a sigh. 'Why me?'

* * *

Team 7 was waiting at the bridge for Kakashi the next day. Naruto and Sakura were having an argument concerning Kakashi's lateness while Danny hung backwards off the railing and Sasuke ignored them.

They were alerted when there was a puff of smoke above the bridge. "Good Morning everyone. I got lost on the road of life."

Danny just sighed and sat up. "If you're going to lie at least make it a good one or don't bother."

Kakashi sighed. "I know this is a bit sudden, but I recommended you for the chunin exams. All four of you. These are the application forms."

"Application forms?" Sakura asked.

"You're repeating me, Sakura. This is all voluntary. If you don't feel ready you can wait till next year. Whoever wants to take the exams, go to room 301 at the academy. The exams are at 3pm, 5 days from now. That's it." Kakashi explained.

* * *

Danny and Naruto were playing with the Konohamaru Corps for the rest of the day. Since the events of the day before, Dani and Konohamaru had gotten a little closer, though often got flustered if they caught each other's gaze and would quickly look away. Udon seemed to think it was funny, and Moegi thought it was adorable.

They were interrupted from their musings when a strange man appeared and grabbed Dani, putting her in a choke hold.

Dani screamed in fright as a kunai was put to her throat.

The man laughed. "If you want your friend back you'll do what I say."

Danny and Naruto looked at each other, then back at him. "Nah."

"What? I'll kill her!" the man said, a bit caught off guard by their response.

"Dani. Stop faking and get rid of him already." Naruto said.

Dani immediately stopped screaming and giggled. "You saw right through my act."

"What?!" The man said in surprise.

Dani swung back in his hold and kicked him in the balls. She made herself intangible and slid from his grasp before dropping down to her friends.

Danny walked over to the man who was on the ground holding his family jewels in pain. "See. I'd have been worried if you picked on anyone else. But Dani isn't a kid you should underestimate, Iruka-Sensei.

"Y- you could see through it the whole time?" Iruka asked.

Danny and Naruto both looked at each other, then back at him, nodding.

"You were obvious." Naruto shrugged. "While you claimed you were going to hurt her, I could tell you weren't actually going to do it. Don't forget. I've actually had people try to kill me before. The malice in your voice was fake."

Iruka dropped his disguise. "I see I underestimated you both as well. I had no idea you'd be able to see through it so easily."

"You just don't want us to enter the chunin exams. That's what this is all about isn't it." Danny deadpanned.

"How did you?"

"Really Iruka? All you do is worry about us like we're still academy students. Every day that we step out into the world to do a mission, we put our lives on the line. The real world is no less dangerous than the chunin exams. In fact, I would suggest that the real world is MORE dangerous, because there we could face chunin, jonin, and even S-ranked missing nin. You should know this Iruka. If you can't handle your students becoming ninja, why are you an instructor?" Danny asked.

Iruka looked down.

"Honestly, it's insulting that you felt so worried about us. Not comforting. You might think that we appreciate your trying to protect us. But we don't." Danny told him, and Naruto nodded in agreement.

* * *

They returned home with the Konohamaru Corps in tow, having been invited to eat dinner with them.

Danny had separated from them to work on the garden, which had several fruits, vegetables, and herbs. It took up about a hundred acres worth of the land, since he had prepared it to be large enough to feed several people. He used several clones to get the work done quickly before heading inside and washing up.

Haku had taken care of dinner and was amused as the kids started what was basically an eating contest. Danny grinned as he stepped into the room and sat down. Haku sat beside him.

* * *

Four days later, Team 7 met up at the academy and started walking up the stairs. They stopped as they saw two 'kids' blocking the way.

"Reverse the genjutsu. We can see right through it anyway." Sasuke ordered.

Danny smacked him upside the head. "You idiot. The genjutsu was to weed out genin that were not ready to take the exams. If they couldn't see through this, they don't belong there."

"Ow!" Sasuke touched the spot where Danny hit him.

"Don't do that!" Sakura yelled at him.

"Your friend is right. Next time maybe you should heed his advice." one of the 'kids' said. The genjutsu reversed, showing that they were in fact the guards that usually sat at the front gate of the village.

"Lets go." Danny ordered and went to lead his team up the stairs.

A boy walked up to Sakura. He had a bowl shaped haircut and the bushiest eyebrows Danny had ever seen.

"My name is Rock Lee. You must be Sakura. Please be my girlfriend. I vow to protect you with my life." he said while giving a nice-guy pose.

"Definitely... not." Sakura said.

"Why?" Lee asked.

"Because I don't even know you." Sakura stated as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Lee whimpered and looked down.

The team continued up the stairs.


	10. Chapter 10

I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto

* * *

Danny and the rest of Team 7 had reached the third floor and started walking towards the room where the exam would be held.

"Hey you. Danny Fenton. Hold on." a voice said.

The team turned around to see that Lee was standing on the floor above them. "Huh?"

"What do you want?" Danny asked.

"I want to fight. Right here and right now." Lee requested.

"Sounds like fun. I accept." Danny grinned, stepping forward as Lee jumped down.

"I remember seeing you and Naruto train all the time before you were made a genin. You should be a good challenge for me." Lee asked.

"Lets see if you can back up your bold challenge, Lee." Danny continued to grin.

"Bring it on." Lee smirked and got into a fighting stance.

"We don't have much time, Danny. We only have half an hour." Sakura worried.

"Don't worry. It won't take us that long." Danny smiled.

Lee was waiting patiently.

"Now then. Lets not waist any time." Danny suddenly moved from his spot in a blur and was behind Lee in seconds, throwing a kick.

Lee reacted quickly and ducked out of the way. He brought a leg up to kick Danny in the jaw.

Danny flipped backwards in the air and punched Lee in the cheek.

Lee grabbed his arm and threw him across the room.

Danny back-flipped across the floor to recapture his balance and pushed himself back against the ground. He spun in the air and swept Lee's legs out from beneath him.

Lee quickly caught himself and kicked Danny in the jaw, sending him skyward.

Danny looked back in time to see Lee had come up behind him. His bandages unraveled and wrapped around Danny tightly. Lee started to spin in the air. Danny screamed as they both hit the ground head first.

Lee's eyes widened however as 'Danny' melted. 'An Ice Clone?! When did he?'

"That was a nice trick. But it won't work on me." Danny said and kicked Lee in the back hard enough to send him tumbling across the room.

Lee was about to get up again as a turtle suddenly appeared in front of him and began to lecture him about using that technique.

A tall man then appeared on the turtle's back. He had the same bowl haircut and bushy eyebrows that Lee did.

The man punched Lee in the cheek.

"Well then." Danny said, a bit confused.

The team all shielded their eyes as a sunset seemed to appear and the two hugged.

"My eyes!" Danny shouted.

"I'll never unsee this!" said Sasuke, who'd had his sharingan active.

"Uuugh!" Sakura groaned.

"Lee!"

"Guy-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Guy-sensei!"

"Now, Lee, run into the setting sun. And run a hundred laps."

"Um," Danny cut in. "Are you forgetting about the exams? We have five minutes left to check in."

Their eyes widened.

"Oh, right. I forgot about that." The man said, rubbing his chin in thought.

"So how is Kakashi-sensei?" the man asked.

"You know him?" Sakura asked.

"Know him? Well. People say. He and I are arch-rivals for eternity."

"No way." Naruto denied.

Suddenly the man was behind them. "My record is 50 wins and 49 losses. Which is one better than Kakashi."

"How did he beat Kakashi?"

"The fact is I'm stronger than Kakashi. And faster." Guy boasted.

"You see. Guy-sensei is the best there is." Lee bragged.

"I'm sorry for the trouble Lee caused. Now look into my eyes and accept my sincere apology." he said.

"It's no trouble, Guy-sensei. I enjoyed it and I hope to spar against Lee again some time." Danny smiled.

Lee beamed. "I appreciate the offer, Danny. I would like that." he smiled.

"Lets get going now. We have an exam to take." Sakura said and they walked towards the classroom.

* * *

The team got to the classroom. They were about to open the door when Kakashi appeared in front of them. "Glad to see you came, Sakura. Now. You can all formally register for the chunin exam."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Only a complete team can take the exam. That's the way it's always been." Kakashi said.

"But you said the decision was up to us. Was that a lie?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi looked away. "Sorta. You each had an individual decision that would have affected everyone. I didn't tell you the whole truth because I didn't want the other guys pressuring you. At the same time, I didn't want you to feel obliged to take the exam because of any feelings you might have for Sasuke. Or the other two. I wanted you to come to a decision of your own free will."

"Wait. Do you mean that if the others had shown up but I decided not to come with them-"

"It would've been the end of the line. If you hadn't come along I couldn't have let them in. But it's a moot point. You're all here and for the right reasons." Kakashi eye smiled.

"Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, and Danny. I'm proud of you. Couldn't ask for a better team. Good luck." Kakashi stepped out of the way.

"We won't let you down, sensei. Believe it." Naruto promised.

* * *

Once inside they looked around at all the other genin in the room.

"I guess we're not alone." Sakura stammered as they looked at the huge crowd.

They looked up at the sound of a fangirlish voice. "Sasuke! Where've you been?! I've missed you so much."

It was none other than Ino. She had flung herself onto Sasuke and got close to him.

Sakura glared at her. "Get your hands off him!"

"Oh. Hey they let you in, billboard brow?" Ino asked.

"Leave my forehead out of it!" Sakura growled.

Ino made a childish face at them.

"So it's you guys." Said a lazy voice. "I knew this exam was gonna be a drag. But I didn't know it was gonna be this lame."

Danny sweat dropped. 'If he didn't want to come why did he even bother?'

"Well well. What do you know. It looks like the whole gang's back together again."

"Hi Naruto." Hinata stammered with a blush.

"Hey, you guys. You might want to try keeping it down a little. You're the ten rookies right? This isn't a field trip." said a boy with silver hair and round glasses.

Danny narrowed his eyes a bit.

"Well who asked you?!" Ino shouted.

"I'm Kabuto Yakushi. But look around you. You've made quite an impression. They're touchy. They all are. These exams make everyone tense. You don't want to rub them the wrong way right now. You can't help it. You're all rookies. You remind me of myself a little while back."

"This isn't your first try taking the exam?" Sakura asked.

"No. This is my seventh." Kabuto admitted.

"Wow. A veteran. You must really be expert by now." Sakura said.

"Some expert. He's never passed." Shikamaru said.

"Really." Danny agreed.

"Seventh time's the charm huh?" Kabuto said.

"So I guess all those rumors about the exams being tough are true. Oh man. I knew this was gonna be a drag." Shikamaru sighed.

"Hang on. Don't give up hope yet. Maybe I can help you guys out a little," Kabuto said, pulling out a deck of cards. "With my ninja info cards."

Danny's eyes narrowed further.

"What the heck are those?" Sakura asked.

"It's hard to explain. But they're encoded with chakra with everything I've learned over the past four years." Kabuto said. "I've got more than 200 of them. So I haven't been completely wasting my time."

Kabuto showed them a map that had how many nin had come from every village for the exams.

"Do those cards have any individual information?" Sasuke asked.

"They might. Have someone special in mind?" Kabuto asked.

"I might." Sasuke said.

"Well. I can't claim my collection is complete or perfect. But I've got something on just about everyone." Kabuto said. "Including you guys of course. Give me a description. Anything at all and I'll see what I can do."

"Rock Lee of the Leaf Village." Sasuke said.

"Gaara of the Desert." Danny added.

Kiba suddenly smirked. "Danny Fenton of the Leaf Village."

"What the hell! I'm right here, Kiba!" Danny shouted at him.

"Oh that's no fun. You even know their names. That makes it easy." Kabuto said, going through his cards. "Here they are." he said, pulling out three cards.

"Show em to us." Sasuke ordered.

"First up is Rock Lee. Looks like he's a year older than you guys. Mission experience: 11 C-ranks and 20 D-ranks." Kabuto said. "His squad leader is Guy. In the last 12 months his taijutsu has radically improved. And his other skills are pretty shaky. Last year he got a lot of attention as a genin, but last year he chose not to participate in the chunin exam. This will be his first time as a candidate, same as you guys. His teammates are Tenten and Neji Hyuga."

"Hyuga?" Naruto asked.

"Now for Gaara of the Desert." Kabuto said, showing the card. "Mission experience: 8 C-ranks, and... get this, 1 B-rank as a genin. There's not a lot more info on this guy as he's a genin from another land. But there is this. He survived every mission without a scratch on him." Kabuto said.

"The dude's done a B-rank as a genin and has never even been injured?" Shikamaru asked.

"Now for Danny Fenton." he said, showing the final card. "His name has been changed to Danny Fenton Uzumaki. Mission experience: 100 D-ranks and 1 C-rank. He has a unique ice release ability that's usually only seen in a certain Clan. He also has a sword which he can use skillfully. He's good in taijutsu, ninjutsu, and kenjutsu. Supposedly he also has a ghost partner that appears to aid him in combat."

'This guy knows too much information. I'll need to speak with someone about this.' Danny thought to himself as Kabuto pulled out another card. He continued to explain the other villages a little before putting his cards away.

"Well, anyways, you get the point. It's going to be interesting competition this time around." Kabuto said.

The three sound shinobi suddenly flashed forward through the crowd and went to attack Kabuto.

Kabuto quickly moved out of the way of the attack. Kabuto's glasses then shattered. "Oh I get it. So it was that kind of attack."

Danny was watching quietly as Kabuto collapsed.

"Write this on your little card. The genin from the sound village will be chunin by the time this is over. Get it?"

There was a sudden burst of smoke at the front of the classroom, getting everyone's attention.

"Alright you baby-faced degenerates. Pipe down and listen up. It's time to begin. I'm Ibiki Morino, your proctor, and from this moment, your worst enemy." a man with scars on his face said. "First of all, you genin from the village hidden in the sound, knock it off, who told you that you could fight. You wanna be failed before the exam has even begun?"

The leader of the sound genin turned to him. "Sorry. Guess we're all a little jumpy, sir."

"I'll say this once. There will be no combat between candidates. No attacking each other without the permission of your proctor. And even then, using fatal force is strictly prohibited. Anyone who messes with me will be disqualified immediately. Got it?" Ibiki asked. "Now if we're ready for the first stage of the exam. Hand over your paperwork and in return you'll each be given a number. This number will determine where you will sit. We'll start the written test once you are all seated."

* * *

Everyone was given a number and sat down at a desk, separated from their teammates. Danny looked down at the questions.

Ibiki hit the chalk board with some chalk. "Everyone, eyes front. There are a few rules you need to be aware of. And I won't answer any questions. So you better pay attention the first time around."

1\. The written part of the exam is conducted on a point reduction system. Contrary to what some of you may be used to, you all begin the test with a perfect score of ten points. One point will be deducted for each answer you get wrong. So if you miss three, your final score will be seven.

2\. Teams will pass or fail based on the total scores of your entire team.

3\. The sentinels you see positioned around the room are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating. And for every incident they spot, they will subtract to points from the culprit's score. Be warned: Their eyes are extremely sharp. And if they catch you five times you will be dismissed before the tests are even scored. Anyone fool enough to be caught cheating by the sentinels doesn't deserve to be here. If you wanna be considered shinobi, then show was what exceptional shinobi you can be.

"One more thing. If any candidate should get a zero and fail the test, then the entire team fails. The final question won't be given until 15 minutes before the end of the testing period. You'll have one hour total. Begin!" Ibiki finished.

Everyone turned over their pages and started working on the test.

Danny looked over the questions. 'Those are interesting rules. Very strange. Normally if you're caught cheating you're failed straight away. It's almost as if... that's it. They want you to cheat. They're testing how well we can gather information without getting caught. If that's the case... I have an idea.' Danny placed his hands under the desk into a single sign. He created a clone and had it appear beneath the desk. The sound of the clone being created caught the attention of the sentinels, but when they didn't see anything unusual, they went back to what they were doing.

The clone quickly turned both invisible and intangible the moment it was created and started walking around the room. It examined the tests of all the other candidates and found a one of the chunin that was stationed among the genin. It quickly copied all the answers onto a piece of paper before placing it in front of Danny, who copied all the answers down quickly.

The clone grinned sadistically as it got another idea. It started flying into some of the genin and overshadowing them. Then it would make the genin 'cheat' in an obvious manner and have their entire team disqualified. He did this to ten different teams before getting bored and dispelling.

Danny finished copying the slip of paper and then started writing on the very bottom. 'I believe Kabuto Yukushi is a spy. He knows what should be confidential information on all the shinobi in the exams. Please relay this information to the Hokage as soon as possible.'

Danny sighed and started drawing on the back of his test boredly. He found that he had started drawing a picture of his old ghost hunting team. Himself, Sam, Tucker, and Jaz. He sighed sadly. 'I'm so sorry I never told you how I felt, Sam. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would tell you. Even if we still had no way of ever being together. You deserved to know the truth. You deserved to know how much you mattered to me.'

* * *

-With Naruto-

Naruto frowned as he looked over all the questions. Sure he'd been able to do somewhat alright on the tests at the academy. But this was far beyond his reach. Suddenly, however, he got an idea.

'Hey, Fox. Do you understand this stuff?' Naruto asked internally

'Of course I do. I've been stuck inside you leaf nin long enough to know a thing or two.'

'Do you think you could help?'

'Why would I do that?'

'Because if you help me then it'll be another step closer to me being stronger. You said yourself that you don't want a weak container. So help me get stronger.'

'How very bold of you. I can respect that. Here's the answers. Listen closely because I won't repeat myself.'

* * *

-With Tucker-

Tucker was currently sitting at his desk at the Konoha Tech Lab. He wondered how Danny and his team were doing. He sighed. Back in the old days he would do almost everything with Danny. But now it seemed they were so different. Danny's capabilities were far out of his reach. He looked at his cellphone and scrolled through the contacts. One contact caught his attention and he sat there staring at it for a moment. Finally he clicked on it and called the number.

He listened to the phone ring for a moment before the person on the other side picked up.

"Hey Tucker. Did you need something?" said a feminine voice on the other side.

"Hey Jaz. Yea. I wanted to tell you that we found Danny." Tucker explained. He waited as the other end of the line was quiet for a few moments.

"Really?! How is he?! Is he hurt?! Scared?! Tell me, Tucker!"

"He seems to be alright. Though he's changed."

"How do I get there?" Jaz asked after a moment. She wanted the chance to reconnect with her baby brother.

Tucker smiled. "You saw that necklace I left on your bed with a CW on it I'm sure. All you need to do is spin the dial on the back. It'll send you straight to Clockwork's tower. He's already expecting you. Once you get there, tell him you want to come to us, and he'll send you to the Konoha entrance gate. I'll meet you there. I know you keep everything packed up to leave on your jobs a lot, so can I expect you to arrive within the hour?"

"Of course. I'll see you within the hour, Tucker." Jaz said and hung up.

* * *

Danny looked up at the clock and saw that there was only twenty minutes left. Nineteen... seventeen... fifteen.

"Alright. Now that we've weeded out most of the hopeless cases, time for the main event. All right. Listen up. Here's the tenth and final question." Ibiki said.

Danny smirked as he sensed Ibiki releasing a bit of KI to unnerve the other genin. 'This guy is smooth. Most wouldn't realize that the entire thing is just a mind game. I bet he's with the I&T Division.'

"But. Before I give you the question. There are some more rules that you need to be aware of."

Kankuro suddenly entered the room.

"Ah. You made it just in time. I hope you found your little trip to the bathroom... enlightening... Take your seat."

Kankuro sat down quickly.

* * *

-With Tucker-

Tucker waited outside the main gate quietly as he listened to music on his phone with a single earbud. 'Shouldn't be long now.'

He'd brought Haku with him just in case any bandits or rogue ninja showed up. Haku was curious as to where they were going at first, of course, but after explaining that he was bringing Danny's elder sister to the village as a surprise, she agreed to help.

"So what is Danny's sister like? Is she a headstrong fighter like him?" Haku asked.

"Hmm. She is and she isn't. Jaz is more of an emotional support type person than anything. In the past, she tried to help us with catching ghosts, but she wasn't all that terrific at it. She would end up accidentally trapping Danny inside our Fenton Thermos, which was designed to trap ghosts until we released them back into the ghost zone. Though at times she would use some of the ghost technology to fight, she typically left the more physical fighting to Danny, and stayed on the sidelines for anything he might need. She's just as stubborn if not more so than he is. She's also a bit protective of Danny." Tucker explained as best he could.

"It seems as though the protectiveness should be the other way around." Haku commented.

Tucker shook his head. "See. Danny is different now from how he used to be. Before, he was a shy, nerdy teenager who was pushed around and bullied by almost everyone in our school. Though he became more confident once he got his powers, he was still pretty shy. Being banished from Amity turned him into almost an entirely new person. He was already protective of us all, because his ghost obsession is to protect his loved ones, but now he's so protective that I wouldn't put it past him to actually kill. That's something he never would've done before. But very few of our enemies were very threatening before. Most were recurring enemies that we faced all the time. And even when an enemy did threaten our lives Danny would find some way to defeat them with killing them."

"I see. Then he was broken by the loss of his precious people. And he trains hard to not let it happen again. He doesn't want to lose his purpose. His reason for living." Haku said sadly.

"I guess so." Tucker frowned.

They looked up as a flash of light appeared not far in front of them. Before them now stood a young woman in her early twenties with long orange hair and ice blue eyes.

"Jaz! Over here!" Tucker called.

Jaz spotted him and smiled. She ran over to them. "Hey! Who's your friend?"

"This is Haku. Danny's romantic interest." Tucker explained and teased all at the same time, causing Haku to blush.

"Hello." Haku smiled and held out a hand.

Jaz shook it. "I'm so happy to meet you! I can't wait to see Danny!"

"I'm glad to meet you too, Jaz." Haku smiled.

Tucker laughed a bit. "If you want to see him then we'd better hurry. You'll need to see the Hokage before you can stay with us. Come on."

Jaz nodded and followed him.

* * *

"Now. Listen carefully. And try not to let them frighten you."

"Very well then, rule number 1. Each of you is free to choose not to be given the final question. It's your decision."

"Woah! Say we choose not to take the final question. What's the catch? What then?" Temari asked.

"If you choose not to take the tenth question, regardless of your answers to the other nine, you'll get a zero. In other words you fail. And that of course means both your team mates fail as well."

The room erupted into alarmed whispers.

"Not so fast. You didn't let me finish. If you do accept the question and answer it incorrectly, you will not only fail, you will be barred from entering the chunin exam ever again!"

"Hey, man! That's a load of bull! That's ridiculous. There's lots of people here who've taken the test before!" Kiba shouted.

Ibiki chuckled darkly. "I guess you're just... unlucky... 'I' wasn't making the rules before. But I am now. Of course if you don't want to take it, you don't have to. If you're not feeling confident, then by all means, skip it. You can come back and try again next year." Ibiki laughed.

"Now then, if you're ready. The tenth and final question. Those who don't want to take it, raise your hand." Ibiki ordered. "Your number will be recorded and then you're free to go."

One by one candidates started filing out.

Team 7 stayed silent. They were all confident they could do this.

Finally everyone that was going to leave had done so.

"Now then, for those of you remaining, there's only one thing left to do. And that's for me to tell you... that you've all passed the first exam." Ibiki said, causing a ripple of shock to pass over everyone in the room.

Sakura stood up. "Hold on. What just happened. What do you mean we pass? Where's the tenth question?!"

Ibiki laughed. "There never was one. Not a written one at least. Actually your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question."

"Huh?" Sakura looked confused.

"So were all of the first nine questions just a waste of time?" Temari asked.

Ibiki looked at her. "The first nine questions were designed to test your information gathering skills." he said as he pulled his headband off, showing massive scarring on his head. "Information. It can be your most valuable weapon in battle. How well you gather intelligence can determine whether a mission is a failure or a success. There'll be times you have to risk your lives to get it."

The genin were shocked as they looked at all the scars. Ibiki put his headband back on. "Of course you must always consider the source of your information. Intelligence gathered from an enemy is not necessarily accurate. Always bare this in mind. Disinformation can be worse than no information at all. It can lead to the death of comrades, or the loss of a village. That's why I put you in this situation. Where you had to gather accurate intelligence. Cheat in order to survive. And that's why those who weren't good enough at it were weeded out. Leaving the rest of you."

"Ok. But I still don't get what the first question was all about.

Danny looked up and answered before Ibiki could. "As a chunin, we have to be able to make the decision whether or not to continue a mission. It may be a mission that looks absolutely hopeless. But as a chunin we have to realize that when things get tough, we can't just give up and back down. That is what the tenth question was. To see if we would crack under pressure and give up. In the real world that could be a fatal mistake. It could mean giving up information to the enemy. Those people are not fit to be a chunin."

Ibiki nodded. "You're exactly right."

Suddenly an object burst through the window. A woman burst through behind it and slid across the floor dramatically. "Heads up boys and girls, this is no time to be celebrating. I'll be your next proctor. Anko Mitarashi. You ready for the second test? That's good! Follow me!"

Everyone stayed silent.

Ibiki stepped out from behind the poster. "You're early. Again."

"How many are there?" Anko asked. "Ibiki. You let all these guys pass? Your test was too easy. You must be getting soft."

"Or it could be...a stronger crop of candidates this year."

"Hmm. It don't look like it. But once I'm done with em... More than half will be eliminated." Anko smirked.

Danny looked her up and down. 'She's hot...'

"More than half, really?" Sakura asked.

"Heh. This is gonna be fun." Anko smirked. "Alright. You maggots have had it easy so far. But. Things are gonna be different starting first thing in the morning. I'll let your squad leaders know where you're to meet me. Dismissed."

* * *

-With Ibiki-

Ibiki was picking up the tests once everyone left. He looked at Danny's and his eyes widened as he saw the note at the bottom. 'The Hokage will need to know about this. Though. I will say this kid is certainly an interesting one.'

* * *

Danny smiled as their team parted ways. He and Naruto were heading back to the estate.

"I can't wait for tomorrow." Naruto said.

"Me either." Danny grinned.

"You just want to impress Haku." Naruto teased with a grin.

"Sh-shut up! It's not like that!" Danny shouted.

"Suuuuure it's not." Naruto laughed and ran off.

"Come back here!" Danny growled and chased him all the way back to the house.

They stepped inside and looked around. It was completely dark for some reason.

"Hello?" Danny called. "Anyone home?"

There was no answer.

Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped themselves around Danny from behind. His eyes widened as the light then turned on. He looked back and saw none other than his older sister.

"J- Jaz?" Danny asked.

"The one and only. Hello, Danny. I've missed you." Jaz said, beaming at him.

Danny felt himself tear up a bit. "Jaz!" he whipped around and hugged her back tightly. "I missed you too."

Naruto tilted his head. "Jaz? As in Danny's older sister?"

Jaz looked at him. "That's right. Who are you?"

Danny looked up at her. "This is Naruto."

Jaz smiled. "Well. Hello Naruto."

Naruto smiled back. "Hello."

Danny looked up at her. "Are you going to stay? What about our parents?"

Jaz's gaze hardened. "Of course I'm staying. I love you, Danny. And our parents can go to hell for what they did to you. They're dead to me."

"But they didn't know I was Phantom." Danny protested.

"Actually, they do know now. They looked everywhere for you and were going to kill Phantom for taking you. So, in the hopes of making them drop the barrier and stop their hunt, I told them that Phantom actually was you. That in an accident you had received the ability to turn into a ghost. They called you a freak and disowned you as their son, Danny. They didn't understand. They were going to continue hunting you down. And they were going to turn you in to a lab for testing." Jaz explained sadly.

Danny was distraught.

"There's more than that. But right more you need to focus on your exams. I'll explain everything later." Jaz promised.

"Alright..."

* * *

The next morning, Team 7 was standing at one of the training grounds for the second stage of the exams.

"This is the location for the second phase of the exam. It's training ground 44. Better known as the Forest of Death." Anko explained.

"Sounds like my kind of place." Danny commented.

"So. Looks like we have ourselves a tough guy." A kunai whizzed towards him and would have clipped his cheek had he not leaned his head to the side. He looked at Anko, who had thrown the kunai. She was standing over him from behind.

"You tough enough to handle this? You're not afraid are you?" she asked.

Danny leaned his head back and looked up at her. "Not at all."

Anko blinked, having not expected a reaction like that.

They were interrupted by a grass nin appearing behind Anko and holding a kunai out with her tongue. "I was... just returning your knife."

"Why thank you, grass ninja. But don't stand that close behind me unless you wish to die." Anko said darkly, taking the kunai.

The woman retracted her tongue. "My pardon. But with the sight of blood and you blade slicing through my hair, I'm afraid I got a bit excited is all. I meant you no harm."

"Likewise." Anko said as the grass nin walked away.

"Seems like everyone here today is quick tempered today. There must be something in the air. This is gonna be fun." Anko grinned.

She walked away. "Now before we begin this test I need to give you these." She pulled out a stack of papers. "Just a standard consent form. Before the test you're gonna have to read over this form and then sign it. Here. Pass these out." Anko handed the stack to Danny, who took one of the forms and then passed it on.

"After that, you will be given a heaven or an earth scroll. Your goal is to get both scrolls to the tower at the center of the training ground. You have five days to complete the task. The test is an anything goes battle." Anko showed them the scrolls.

"So at the very best half of us will fail. Maybe more." Sakura said.

"No one ever said it would be easy." Anko said.

"What are we supposed to do for food?" Choji protested.

Danny rolled his eyes. "There's tons of creatures in there you can use for food. If you can't figure that much out, you might as well just give up and go home now before you get hurt." he said coldly. "Just make sure you don't eat anything poisonous or get eaten by something yourself."

Choji whimpered.

"With these circumstances, not even half the teams will succeed." Neji deduced.

"With the days getting longer, and the nights getting shorter, we will have less time to recover. It is a challenge indeed." Said Lee.

Sasuke looked at the forest. "Completely surrounded by enemies. There won't be time to rest, we'll have to keep a constant watch."

"That's right. This test also measures endurance behind enemy lines." Anko stated. "This is designed to be a grueling test and I'm sure some of you won't be up to the challenge."

Shikamaru raised his hand. "So say.. lets say mid-exam... can we quit?"

Danny sweat dropped at that question.

Anko gave him a look. "Of course not. In the middle of a battle you can't say 'sorry, I quit'... Well, I guess you could, but it's probably gonna get ya killed."

"Oh just great." Shikamaru said in a dull voice. "This is gonna be a drag."

"There are also some ways you can get disqualified. The first is simple. If all members of a team can't make it to the tower with both scrolls after five days. Number 2. If a team loses a member, or if a member becomes incapacitated and cannot continue. But most important. None of you, absolutely none of you may look at the contents of the scrolls until you've reached the tower." Anko explained.

"Sometimes a ninja will be asked to carry secret documents. The scroll rule is to test your integrity. Okay, we're done. Each team take your consent forms over there to exchange them for your scrolls. After that, each team pick a gate and you'll be let inside." she sighed. "Oh, and I have one more word of advice. Just don't die!"

The teams dispersed to read the forms.

Danny sat up in a tree as he read his over.

* * *

Finally everyone had turned in their forms and were getting their scrolls. Danny placed the scroll into a seal within one of his own scrolls and then tossed it to Sasuke. Sasuke took it and placed it in his bag.

Once given the command, all the teams went to their respective gates to wait for the test to begin.

"This is gonna be fun." Naruto grinned.

"Don't burn yourself out before the test starts..." Danny teased.

"I won't. Just you watch." Naruto retorted.

The guard opened the gate and the team dashed inside.

"We should make our way further in then set up a spot with traps. Then all we have to do is ambush another team and we grab their scroll!" Sakura said.

"Not a bad idea. What do you think, Danny? Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"I like it. Naruto and I have a lot of extra trapping materials with us." Danny agreed.

"Should we have a password in case we get separated?"

"I have a better idea." they stopped on one of the branches. Danny gave them each special bracelets and had one on himself. "With these we can not only track each other's location, but we can also use them to communicate. Even if their looks can be replicated, their functions aren't so easy."

"Cool." Naruto grinned and put his own. The other members of their team followed suit.

"Now lets keep moving. We don't want to stand still for long." Sasuke said.

"You're right. We're sitting ducks right now. Lets move."

With that the team started heading inward again.

Little did they know that they were being tailed by someone else.


	11. Chapter 11

I do not own Naruto or Danny Phantom

* * *

"Guys, stop." Danny ordered as he paused on a tree branch and looked around. "I think we're being followed."

The rest of the group stopped and looked around as well.

"I don't see or hear anything. Are you sure you're not just imagining it?" Sakura asked.

Danny didn't respond to her.

"Dann-.."

"Get down!" Danny pushed her down as a huge gust of wind hit them.

Naruto and Danny were both picked up off their feet and launched through the forest.

"Ow!" Naruto complained, having been thrown into a tree. Danny was tangled up in some bushes.

Naruto rolled himself over while Danny detangled himself. They looked up as they heard a hissing noise.

"MOVE MOVE MOVE!" Danny shouted and they both leapt out of the way. The snake hit the tree nose first.

They both jumped back through the air.

"Ice Style: Ice Breath!" he blew a beam of ice at the snake and froze it solid.

Naruto spun forward and slammed his heel into it, causing the ice to shatter.

"We need to get back to the others. I've got a really bad feeling." Danny said. Naruto nodded and they started running back towards the team.

They were stopped by several kunai flying in front of their path

"Who's there?!" Danny shouted.

They were greeted by three rain ninja jumping out at them.

The leader stood in front of them with spiky brown hair. "We'll be taking your scroll."

"I don't think so." Naruto snarled.

"Naruto. The team could be in trouble. Whoever delivered that jutsu was obviously trying to split us up. Go. I can handle things here." Danny ordered.

"But Danny-"

"Go!" Danny shoved him away and rushed the rain ninja by himself.

"You little fool thinking you can take us yourself." the leader said as the group moved in to strike. The second came in to strike him from behind while the other threw kunai from the side. Danny ducked out of the way of the incoming projectiles and strikes from behind and back-flipped away, simultaneously kicking the leader in the chin.

"You little brat! I'll kill you!" the leader shouted as they weaved through several hand-signs.

Danny looked around as he was surrounded by clones.

Naruto watched for a few moments before turning away and running back to the team as he was told.

* * *

Naruto closed in on the group and saw a strange woman moving up a tree like a snake. It looked like she was going after Sasuke and Sakura.

Naruto quickly got some projectiles and flung them at the grass ninja. "Looks like I got back right in time." Naruto announced.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried in relief. _'Where's Danny?'_ she wondered.

"No! Naruto get out of here!" Sasuke shouted.

"Not a chance." Naruto stated.

"So, Naruto. You managed to escape from my friend. But where is the other one?" the 'woman' asked.

"So that was your doing?" Naruto said quietly. Then he smirked. "We killed your little pet. But I'm not gonna tell you where Danny is."

Sasuke frowned, feeling the only way to stop this was to give up the scroll.

Naruto rushed over and snatched it out of the air.

"Stop trying to play the hero, Narut-"

Naruto didn't give him a chance to finish and decked him in the face. "Get a hold of yourself, Sasuke. This is pathetic, especially for you."

"You shouldn't take your eyes off your opponent," the woman said with a smirk and ran forward to strike at them.

"Don't even think about it!" Naruto darted through the air and punched her in the face.

Sakura's and Sasuke's eyes both widened in surprise.

"How dare you." the woman snarled.

"Oh, I dare." Naruto smirked at her. He just needed to buy his team mates time.

"You'll regret fooling with me little boy." the strange woman darted forward towards Naruto with several fast paced punches.

Naruto quickly ducked and weaved out of the way. He blocked an overhead kick and punched her in the chest, sending her back a ways. She came back into the fight and gave Naruto a nasty roundhouse kick to the side, sending him crashing through several tree branches.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried. Sasuke still hadn't moved.

* * *

Danny looked around at the clones that were surrounding him. He jumped out of the way of a kick that was aimed at his face and then threw another clone over his shoulder that had been aiming to punch him from behind. Still holding on to that clone, he spun it around in a circle and knocked it into the other surrounding clones. He jumped up into the air above them as one flung several projectiles at him.

"Ice style: Ice Clone Jutsu!" he called and created several ice clones. Five clones appeared on each side of him. He gasped and looked back as a kunai was brought to his throat. The rain ninja went to slice his throat open but was shocked when the knife went right through Danny. Danny took his shock as an open opportunity and slammed his elbow into the ninja's chest. He whipped around and snap kicked the ninja in the jaw, sending him into one of the trees.

He didn't hesitate to rush forward and stab the enemy ninja through the chest with a kunai. Though to his surprise, it was not blood leaking out, but water. "Crap!" he quickly jumped back and looked at his clones that were fighting. He frowned. _'Which one?'_ He closed his eyes and tried to sense which were the real ninja. _'There!'_ He rushed forward and knocked one of the rain ninja away.

* * *

Naruto flipped over in midair and landed safely on his feet. He sent a glare at the grass ninja. This wasn't getting him anywhere. His eyes widened in shock as the enemy ninja was suddenly in front of him and yelped as he was punched in the face hard enough to be be sent flying again. His back hit the tree behind him and he bounced off it with a sickening crack.

He fell to his knees before the grass ninja and coughed up blood.

"Where was all that confidence you had, boy?" the grass ninja asked in a sickly sweet voice as she strode forward. She stopped and smirked. "This is the end of the line for you." she stated as she held up a kunai to throw it at him.

Naruto suddenly chuckled. The grass ninja gasped as he went up in smoke. The real Naruto burst through it with kunai in hand and went to slash it across the grass ninja's face.

The grass ninja quickly brought up her own kunai to block the strike. They stayed like that for a few moments before they both jumped back. Naruto glanced at his team mates. _'What the hell are they doing?! Why aren't they fighting?!'_ He quickly regretted this as the moment his attention was back on the grass ninja he was grabbed by the collar of his shirt and slammed into the ground roughly.

The grass ninja rolled up her sleeve to reveal a strange seal on her arm. She bit her free thumb and drew blood. She then spread the blood over the seal to summon another large snake. Naruto's eyes widened.

"It's dinner time!" the grass ninja declared. She jumped out of the way as the snake darted forward.

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed in fright.

* * *

"How?!" the rain ninja shouted.

"Training." Was all Danny said as he got behind the rain ninja and snapped his neck.

"No! Oboro!" the leader cried. All of the clones had been taken out by now.

Danny got between them. "Hand over your scroll and I will leave you be."

"You bastard. I'll kill you!" the leader screamed and rushed at Danny recklessly.

"I didn't want to do this. You leave me no choice." Danny concluded as he simply turned himself intangible, which caused the leader to just fall through him. Danny turned around "Ice Style: Ice Trap."

The leader cried out as ice creeped up his body and pinned his arms and legs.

The third ninja tried to free his leader but he was caught by Danny and flung into the dirt roughly.

"I give you one last chance. Surrender your scroll and I won't bother you any further." Danny stated firmly.

The third ninja shakily pulled out his earth scroll and gave it to Danny.

Danny smiled. "Thank you. See you around." Danny grinned and left them with that. "Now I have to get back to the others. I hope I'm not too late.

"Naruto!"

"That sounded like Sakura! Don't worry, guys, I'm coming!" he declared. "I'm going ghost!" he shouted and turned into his ghost form. He took to the air to fly as fast as he could. Would he make it in time?


	12. Chapter 12

I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto

* * *

Author's Note: Hey everybody. Sorry for the super long wait. I've gone back and looked through my story to fix any errors. I'm so self conscious about my writing at times. I also felt that Danny's relationships were moving a little too fast so I slowed them down a bit.

* * *

The snake was inches from Naruto's face when a sword suddenly sliced through the roof of its mouth. Naruto looked up. It was Danny in ghost form. He had thrown his sword at the snake.

"Great. Another interruption." the grass ninja deadpanned in annoyance.

"Damn straight." Danny shouted.

"It's Phantom!" Sakura shouted.

Phantom looked up. "Sasuke! Sakura! What the hell are you two doing?! You're gonna let this guy scare you! We're team 7. We fought Zabuza Momichi the demon of the hidden mist and survived. Will you stand there and die or fight and survive?"

"No! I won't stand and die!" Sasuke finally shouted, activating his sharingan. He pulled a kunai out and placed it in his teeth. He then dashed forward quickly. He spun through the air and through several kunai and shuriken at the grass ninja, who dodged with a smirk. He then pushed himself off a tree for extra momentum. He threw two kicks at the grass nin, who blocked with her forearms. He spun over her, narrowly avoiding being kicked, and back-flipped away.

The grass-nin rushed forward to take a swipe at him but Danny was in front of her before she could, hitting her across the face with a roundhouse kick.

Naruto dashed forward with Danny's sword in hand. He'd pried it out of the snake's head. He looked as though he would try to hit the grass nin with it when he threw it towards Danny.

Danny caught the handle of his sword and charged his ecto-energy through it, causing the blade to turn neon green. He swung it down, causing an arc of green energy to flash through the air towards the grass nin and knock her into the tree. "Sasuke!"

Sasuke took a deep breath and let out a large torrent of fire at her, engulfing her in a tornado of flames.

Danny flew back and began to throw a volley of ecto-blasts into the torrent, turning it a mix of red, orange, and green. He then moved back and brought up a dome like shield around team 7. "Naruto!"

Naruto went through handsigns. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" he hit the torrent with a massive gust of wind before jumping back into the dome. The fire spread quickly through their part of the forest.

Danny grit his teeth as he held the dome shield against the flames. The grass nin screamed in pain.

"You did it!" Sakura shouted.

Once the flames died down Danny released the barrier, breathing heavily. They were all exhausted.

"It's finally over." Sakura reassured her teammates.

They looked up as the grass nin suddenly stepped towards them and used a jutsu to freeze them in place. "Such mastery of the Sharingan and so young in age. You're a true Uchiha after all. Yes. You'll do nicely." She had a patch of skin coming off of her eye, and her voice was now starting to sound like that of a male. "You're definitely his brother. Your eyes may be even keener than Itachi's."

"Who are you?! What do you want?!" Sasuke shouted angrily.

"My name is Orochimaru. But as to what I want, that will have to wait until we meet again. Which won't happen until you finish this test with the best score of all. First, you'll have to defeat the hidden sound ninja who serve me."

"I have no idea what you're talking about! But if you're finished why don't you just beat it!? If we never meet again it'll be too soon." Sakura shouted.

"Oh. He and I will meet again." Orochimaru moved his hands into a seal. Using a strange jutsu. His head suddenly shot forward from his body.

However, before he could bite Sasuke, Danny stabbed himself in the hand with a kunai to break the affect of the previous jutsu and rushed forward. He took a deep breath before letting out a loud ghostly wail.

Orochimaru let out a scream of pain as he was sent flying through several trees. Danny kept it up until he was long out of sight. He finally stopped and crumpled down to his hands and knees. His transformation fell, leaving him in his human form. Sakura and Sasuke's eyes widened. He was too exhausted to care. He closed his eyes and collapsed at their feet.

Naruto was the first to recover from shock. He rushed forward and picked the halfa up, moving him to his back. "We need to get him out of here!" he shouted.

"Right." Sakura nodded and grabbed Danny's sword, which he'd dropped.

* * *

The group took Danny to a cave like area beneath a tree and laid him down. They then made sure the surrounding area was completely protected with traps.

"Naruto. What is going on? You don't seem all that surprised by all this. I thought Phantom was Danny's friend." Sasuke asked him.

"This really isn't the best place to explain. Look all you need to know is that Danny will tell you when he's ready. He's had a lot happen to him in the past. He promised me that he would tell you once he felt ready. Now that you've seen, I can't see why he wouldn't tell you the truth.

"So what now? The strongest member of our team is out cold..." Sakura muttered.

"It'll be fine. We just hold out here until he wakes up. Then we can focus on getting the final scroll and head to the tower." Sasuke said.

Naruto decided to go through Danny's supplies to see what he had left and if he needed to give him some extra kunai. His eyes widened. "Guys. We won't need to do that." he pulled out the earth scroll Danny had collected.

"Alright! Way to go, Danny." Sakura cheered.

Naruto put the scroll back.

"Alright. I'll sit guard for now. In a few hours I'll wake you up, okay, Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Right. Goodnight." Naruto laid down on the ground and went to sleep.

Sakura didn't fall asleep just yet. "Sasuke?"

"What is it, Sakura?"

"Sorry I wasn't much help back there. I'll try to be stronger in the future. I don't want to stand on the sidelines for everyone to protect me anymore." she bowed her head a little bit.

Sasuke looked over at her. "It's alright. You do still have a lot of work to do. But you've come a long way since we left the academy. You're much more bearable now. You just need to find a style that suits you."

Sakura smiled a little at that. "You're right. Thank you. Goodnight, Sasuke." she laid down and went to sleep as well.

Sasuke turned back towards the fire and leaned against the bark of the tree. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

By daybreak, Sakura was the one standing guard and the others were asleep.

She looked up as she heard a groan. It was Danny. He sat up. "Ow, my head. Oh. Good morning, Sakura." he smiled.

"I'm glad you're awake. We were worried about you." She smiled at him.

"You were?"

She nodded.

"What happened to?"

"You blew him away. Literally. He didn't ever come back. What was that jutsu you used? And why did you lie to us about Phantom?" Sakura asked.

Danny frowned. "I'm sorry. I don't think now is a good time to answer your questions. It would be too easy for an enemy to overhear."

"I suppose I can take that excuse. But you have a lot of explaining to do later."

"I understand." Danny sighed. He knew there was no way out of this now.

They waited for Naruto and Sasuke to wake up before getting ready to go.

They were about to head out when a squirrel ran towards them. Sasuke looked down at it, noting the strange coloring on its back. His eyes widened as he saw the colored markings. A paper bomb. He rushed towards it and picked it up before pulling the paper bomb from its back and getting rid of it. He looked into the tree line. "Whoever you are, come out now!"

Three people stepped towards him. It was the same group that had attacked Kabuto during the first exam.

The leader stepped out. "Well well. It looks like Sasuke is ready to fight. We wouldn't want to keep you waiting. I'm Dosu. These are my teammates, Kin and Zaku. Prepare to die."

"It's those guys that took Kabuto down without touching them.." Naruto commented.

"Yea. We'll need to be careful." Danny stated, grabbing his sword. "Sakura. You go after the girl. Sasuke and Naruto you go after the one with spiky hair. I've got their leader. Go!" With that he rushed towards them with his teammates behind him.

"You think we'll be that easy?" Dosu pulled his sleeve back to reveal a strange gauntlet. He blasted sound-waves at Danny. He yelped as he was pushed back in the air.

Danny grit his teeth. He pushed his chakra into his sword and swung it down, creating an arc of chakra that flew at Dosu.

Dosu quickly moved out of the way of the arc, his eyes widening as it left a huge scar like mark in the tree behind him. _'Whatever that jutsu was, I can't allow myself to be hit by it. I'll be torn to pieces.'_

* * *

Naruto rushed at Zaku with a kunai. Zaku held his hands out. "Try some of this!" Air like sound waves shot from his hands. His eyes widened as Naruto merely went up in smoke. A shadow clone.

Sasuke burst through the smoke and hit Zaku across the face with a heel kick. He then flipped over Zaku, gripped his shoulders, and used the momentum to plant a knee strike into his spine. Zaku let out a scream of pain.

* * *

Sakura rushed at Kin and threw several kunai at her. Kin moved out of the way and threw senbon needles back.

Sakura went through hand signs quickly. The senbon hit a log she had replaced herself with.

"Great. Where is she now." Kin looked around. She smirked as she saw Sakura running up from behind her.

Sakura leapt into the air and used the idea Danny had given them. She focused her chakra into her fist and lunged forward. Kin moved out of the way. Sakura hit the dirt. Her fist ended up getting stuck in the ground.

"That's some trick you've got there. Too bad you're slow." Kin came up behind her and grabbed her by her long hair, causing her to cry out in pain.

* * *

Dosu pulled out a kunai and threw it at Danny, who deflected it with his sword. The distraction gave Dosu time to get behind him.

Danny turned his head to see him. However, he wasn't fast enough and was hit by another sound blast. He held his ears in pain.

Dosu smirked and went to finish him off. He was surprised when Danny shattered. It was an ice clone. The real Danny leapt through the trees. "Ice Style: Ice Breath jutsu!" He blew ice at Dosu, freezing his body as they plummeted to the ground. Danny held his sword beneath him. It sliced through through Dosu's right shoulder and pinned him to the ground, causing him to elicit a pained scream.

"Do you surrender?" Danny asked him.

"Yes. I surrender!" Dosu shouted. He wasn't stupid enough to continue a fight he knew he couldn't win.

* * *

Sasuke had pinned Zaku to the ground. Naruto was standing in front of him in case he managed to get up. "If you don't give up, I'm going to barbecue you right here and now. There's nowhere for you to run.

Zaku growled. "Like hell I would give up to weaklings like you! I call your bluff. You won't do it."

Sasuke smirked. "I was hoping you would say that." he moved his hands through a few signs. "Fire Style: Fi-"

Zaku's eyes widened. He realized that Sasuke wasn't bluffing after all. "No no no! Wait. I surrender! I surrender!"

"That's better." Sasuke got off of him.

They looked over at the others.

"It looks like Sakura is in trouble. Go help her, Naruto. I can take care of him if he tries anything funny."

"Right." Naruto nodded and rushed over to his teammate. "Let her go!"

"No! Stop Naruto! I don't need your help." Sakura shouted.

Kin looked down at her. "Stopping your teammate from helping you? I guess you leaf nin really do have a death wish."

"No. I... I'm tired... of always being the one in need of aid. I'm tired of needing them to come rescue me. I'm not some damsel in distress." She raised a kunai up. "I'm a kunoichi of the leaf!"

"That's never going to work on me, little girl." Kin smirked.

"It's not for you." Sakura brought the kunai up quickly and cut her hair, releasing herself from Kin's hold. She whipped around and used Kin's shock to hit her in the chest with another chakra enhanced punch, launching her into a nearby tree and knocking her out.

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad that's over with."

"Good job, Sakura." Danny stepped over to them.

"Danny." She smiled at him. "Did you beat him?"

"I wouldn't be standing here talking to you otherwise." he stated with a smile.

Sasuke came over to join them. "We should get moving before anyone else decides to attack us.

"Right." Danny nodded. He looked at Sakura. "You were pretty good back there."

Sakura blushed a little bit at the praise. "Thank you."

With that they were off, leaving the sound nin behind.

* * *

Team 7 hurried through the forest on their way to the tower.

"We're almost there." Sakura smiled.

"Don't let your guard down just yet. There may be other ninja lying in wait near the tower." Sasuke told her.

"Right." she nodded.

Danny stopped on a branch as he heard a feminine scream. "You guys hear that?" he asked.

"Sounded like a girl." Naruto answered.

Danny gave his scroll to Sasuke. "You three head to the tower. I'm going to check it out."

"What? It doesn't concern us. It could be a trap. We should ignore it." Sasuke told him.

"If it's a trap then I'm the best person around to check it out. I'm a lot harder to catch than you think." Danny smiled.

Sasuke sighed. He could see he wouldn't talk his teammate out of this. "Fine. But hurry back. If you aren't back within ten minutes I'm going to come look for you."

"I'm going ghost!" the two circles formed around him, turning him into Phantom in front of them for the first time. Sakura and Sasuke watched with wide eyes. Sure they knew about his secret now. That didn't mean they were used to seeing him transform.

Danny waved at them and flew towards the sound of the scream. They continued heading towards the tower.

* * *

Danny looked around. He knew he heard the scream come from this area.

He stopped as he caught a glimpse of bright red hair. It was a girl. She was being chased by a huge bear. She tripped over a large branch and fell forward, losing her glasses and scroll.

Danny flew down quickly and hit the bear's spine, using his enhanced strength to deal extra damage. He stabbed his sword into the back of its neck near the spinal cord to sever the nerves.

Once the bear was completely limp, he walked over to the girl and picked her glasses up for her. "Hey. Are you alright?"

She took her glasses from him and put them on, gazing up at him with wide eyes. "Y- yes. I'm alright. Thank you. Who are you?"

"I'm Danny. What's your name? Where are your teammates?" he asked.

"I'm Karin. And I- I don't know. They left me out here all by myself." she told him. She was calmed and dazzled by his chakra. _'So warm and gentle... '_

Danny frowned at her answer. He got closer to her and inspected her for injuries. He noticed her ankle was bleeding from where she'd hit the root of the tree. He held a hand over it and used his medical ninjutsu to help heal the wound.

He looked up as he noticed Karin staring at him. "U- um. I can take you to the tower if you like." he said hesitantly.

"Yes. I'd like that. Please." She asked him. She didn't want to lose sight of him just yet. She let out a squeak as he picked her up bridal style.

"You'd better hold on tightly." he bent his knees and leapt into the air, gliding through the trees towards the tower where his teammates were waiting.

Karin looked up at him. She couldn't help but blush a little bit. She'd never had a boy this close before. She didn't complain though.

Danny looked down at her, noticing the blush. "What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?" He sounded slightly oblivious.

"Oh... It's nothing." she stated simply and rested her head against his chest.

"Um. Okay..." he focused his attention on the route ahead of him again.

* * *

"Geez. What's taking him so long. He should've been back by now." Sakura complained.

"It's not like we're late or anything. Calm down, Sakura. I'm sure he'll be back any minute." Naruto stated in an attempt to calm her down.

"No. Sakura is right. I'm going to go look for him." Sasuke stood up from where he'd been leaning against the wall of the tower.

"Wait. Sasuke, look!" Naruto stopped him, pointing at the treeline.

Danny was flying towards them with a red-headed girl in his arms. He brought his body up perpendicular to the ground and let his feet hit the ground in front of them. He bent his knees to cushion his sudden stop.

"Who is she?" Naruto asked.

"Her name is Karin. Her teammates left her behind. I'm going to take her to the medics. Lets go inside." he ordered.

His teammates decided not to ask any further and they stepped inside. Danny dropped his transformation, causing Karin to gasp in surprise.

"Can you stand on your own?" he asked. She nodded and he set her on her feet gently.

"What's the deal? Nobody's here." Naruto commented.

"Look. On the wall." Sakura pointed to the writing.

"Great. What is it?" Naruto asked.

"Why don't you read it before asking stupid questions..." Danny muttered.

"Who asked you?!" Naruto asked.

Danny just gave him a look.

Sakura just ignored him. "If qualities of heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom to take your mind higher. If earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. When heaven and earth are opened together a perilous path will become righteous forever. This... something... is the secret way that guides us from this place today."

"This what?" Naruto asked. "Or is that a secret too?"

"It's like there's a word missing here." Sakura said. "Anyways. It's about the scrolls. I think we're supposed to open and read the heaven and earth scrolls now."

"Well. That and it's also a metaphor. Heaven is intelligence. Earth is physical strength. To go into battle with only physical qualities or only intelligence would be foolhardy. Someone with both qualities would be difficult to defeat." Danny added.

"I didn't know you were good at that sort of thing, Danny." Sakura commented.

"My guardian likes speaking in riddles and being cryptic. It's an acquired skill..." he stated tonelessly.

"Okay... anyways. Lets open those scrolls now."

Sasuke and Naruto opened the scrolls. When they began to smoke, Sasuke realized what they were.

"It's a summoning jutsu! Quick!" he and Naruto threw them in a criss-cross way on the floor as a pillar of smoke exploded over them.

They all stared with wide eyes as the smoke cleared.

"What? It's you?" Sasuke asked.

"Why am I not surprised?" Danny asked.

Karin was just confused.

It was none other than Iruka.

"Hey. Long time no see, huh?" he asked them with a smirk.

"Iruka-sensei?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"Looks like you've gone through a lot in this test." Iruka commented.

"Wait. What's the deal with the surprise entrance. Why are you appearing with the summoning?" Naruto asked.

"At the end of the second exam, we chunin are supposed to welcome the test takers back. And well, it was just good luck that I got to be the one given the important task of being the messenger for you guys." Iruka said.

"The messenger?" Sakura asked.

"Congratulations. You've passed the second exam." he announced. "I'd love to treat you all to some Ichiraku Ramen."

"Awesome!" Naruto grinned.

"By the way. Who's the girl? She's not a member of your team..." Iruka asked.

"Her teammates abandoned her out in the forest. I wasn't sure what else to do. I couldn't just leave her out there. I was going to take her to the medics here.

"As noble as ever I see. I'll be sure she gets the attention she needs before she goes back to her village." Iruka went to lead her out.

"Wait! Don't just send me back. Please!" Karin pleaded. She didn't want to part with Danny so soon.

"Karin. Calm down. If the idea of going back upsets you that much then ask for Haku and tell her you're a friend of mine. She will help you from there, I promise." Danny reassured her.

With that she followed Iruka out, glancing at them one last time.

"...Working on starting a harem, Danny?" Naruto taunted him.

"What? No! First of all, I doubt either of them even see me like that. And second, even if they did, I doubt they'd be up for a relationship like that." Danny's face had turned dark red.

"Haku gave up her life of serving Zabuza to follow 'you' to Konoha. That Karin girl looked like she was about to go ballistic at just the idea of separating from you. Are you really so sure they don't see you like that?" Naruto asked.

Danny's face only got darker. "I'm not discussing this any further with you. Just drop it." He marched further into the tower. The rest of his team looked at each other before chasing after him.

* * *

Karin was taken by the medics to the Konoha Hospital. She looked up as someone opened her door. It was a woman with long ebony hair. Though she didn't appear to be a medic.

"Who are you?" Karin asked.

"I'm Haku. I was told you sent for me. So I think I should be asking you that question." Haku stated.

"I was told to tell you that I'm a friend of Danny. He said if I was too upset to return to my village to send for you. So I did." she explained.

"By that look in your eyes I take it you developed a crush on him." Haku said bluntly, causing Karin to blush brightly. This just caused Haku to laugh. "I thought so. Okay. I'll help you."

"R- really?" Karin was confused now.

"Mhm. I get it. Believe me. He's quite unique, isn't he." Haku smiled at her.

"Wait. Don't tell me you like him too." Karin frowned.

"You could say that. He seems to be oblivious too it though." Haku sighed.

Karin thought for a moment. "I saw that too..." she looked at the ceiling. "So what now? Aren't you upset? You have competition now?"

"Why be upset? I'm willing to share." Haku said calmly like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Karin turned her head quickly to look at Haku again, gaping. "S- share? Is... is that okay?"

Haku shrugged. "There are no laws that say we can't."

"So you'll help me stay in Konoha? Will I stay at your place?" Karin asked.

Haku nodded. "I think Danny is in for quite the surprise."

Karin grinned. "I think so too."


End file.
